From Out of Nowhere
by Amsterdam Flowers
Summary: Kaede Erizawa, part of Kaiba Corp's security personnel, loses her family, and is only left with her father's legacy. He had spent years protecting the Kaiba brothers, and she wasn't going to let him die in vain. Her personal mission is to keep the Kaibas safe, but Kaiba's a big rich jerk, and being a bodyguard is a lot like fancy talk for "overpaid babysitter". KaibaXOC
1. First

**From Out of Nowhere**

 **Chapter 1: First**

 **I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, but we all already knew that.**

Seto Kaiba was not widely known for his kindness. In fact, many who had encountered him doubted he had any in him at all. Seto Kaiba didn't care though. Let the people think as they wish, he didn't have time to argue about such senseless things. Besides, it was true that he did not carry much kindness with him. It was a hard world, and he needed his steely exterior and glare that could kill to remain powerful, and to protect him and his little brother.

Seto Kaiba sighed as he adjusted his bow tie in the mirror, a slight scowl on his face. Kaiba Corp's annual charity gala was tonight to raise money for local orphanages. So, okay, he had one little soft spot to show a bit of kindness towards some orphans, but he just didn't want anyone to go through everything that he and Mokuba did.

He shook his head and gave his reflection a final icy glare, before turning on his heel and heading for the limo waiting downstairs.

The annual Kaiba Corp charity gala was on of the largest events in Domino city. Prestigious guests gathered from all over the country, and in some cases, the world, to attend. Kaiba Corp did not hold many public events, and it was rare for the CEO Seto Kaiba himself to be at any other events throughout the year, so it was an opportunity to lay eyes on the handsome blue-eyed man himself, or in the case of his business associates and rivals, to try and secure beneficial deals for their companies, or scope out the competition.

The company's security teams had been preparing for this for weeks. At such a huge venue, with so many important guests in attendance, it was their job to keep out any paparazzi and reporters, weed out anyone trying to sneak in, while ensuring the safety of every attendee from anything that could go wrong.

Kaede Erizawa was already positioned in her place as elegantly dressed guests streamed into the grand ballroom, dressed in expensive suits and dresses, and glittering with impressive jewels. Hors d'oeuvres were being served by sharply dressed servers, and small groups of important people began clumping as conversation and occasional dancing broke out.

She was standing in a hidden alcove by an emergency exit, and a long set of stairs that went all the way to the roof of the towering building. She was wearing a long, sleek black dress that went all the way to the ground to cover the sneakers she was wearing. It wasn't proper, and the security team was supposed to be able to blend with the crowd if needed, but how on earth was she supposed to run in heels?

She leaned against a wall, keeping a sharp eye and ear out while idly fingering her earpiece concealed by her long black hair. It was going to be a long, and lonely night in her little watch post, but she didn't complain. This is where her father, Tatsuki Erizawa, head of Kaiba Corp security had stationed her, and had given her the important role of personal protection over Mokuba Kaiba if anything should happen. Not that it would, she snorted at her bangs, thinking the idea of anyone getting past their well planned security set up was near impossible. She shook her head, and shifted into a more comfortable lean, eyeing the crowd of beautiful people, feeling rather plain in comparison.

Kaiba and Mokuba arrived after most of the other guests, and sure enough, as they exited the stretch limo, a line of bodyguards moved in to shield them from the buzzing crowds of journalists and photographers, flashes and yelling demands for statements ignored by Kaiba while Mokuba grinned and waved whenever he could. Seto Kaiba was dressed in a sharp black tuxedo, while Mokuba was in a smart dark blue suit and bow tie, though his hair still streamed out wild and large behind him.

Nearby, a band of giggling women were studying him, batting their lashes and gesturing to Seto. He sighed, foreseeing a very long night indeed. He impatiently walked beside Mokuba as the younger Kaiba enjoyed the time in the spotlight before they entered the party.

;

A few hours later, Kaede was slouched on the floor, struggling to stay awake and in focus on the gala and the attendees. So far, the night was going off without a hitch, as she figured it would. Bored, she shook her head and pushed herself back to standing position stretching and yawning widely, trying to gather up the energy to make it through the rest of the night.

Her radio started crackling, and that gave her all the inspiration she needed to quickly snap to attention, tensely staring into the crowd as she listened.

 _"Bzzt… This is Agito. We've just found Hiroki unconscious at the back entrance, along with the rest of his team. Looks like there was a struggle. It looks like a group of people managed to bust their way in."_

Kaede felt her blood run cold, and quickly cranked up her earpiece to full volume to not miss a single word. She glared and put a hand on the strap that was secretly concealing her gun on her thigh under her dress. She hoped she wouldn't need to use it.

 _"Bzzt… Tatsuki here. Outside patrol team, stay with Hiroki's team and make sure they all get help. Beta and Charlie, come out and start mingling in the crowd, keep an eye out for suspicious activity. Alpha, stay where you are, but Delta, go outside and do a scan, support the patrol team if needed. Echo, you are to quietly check all available rooms and corners someone could be hiding in. Kaede, we're going to ere on the side of caution and go to the Kaiba brothers now. Remain inconspicuous."_

Kaede gulped, but steeled herself slightly before slipping out into the crowd, reassured by her father's calm demeanour and soothing voice.

She carefully moved around, looking for Mokuba, finding him right beside the tall CEO of Kaiba Corp, as everything seemed calm and normal. Maybe they were overreacting. Maybe no one made it in. Maybe-

She broke out into a sprint, unashamedly hiking her dress up as she ran, pushing people out of her way, and grabbing her gun.

She dived immediately for the younger Kaiba as startled yells and screams rang up around her. The shot that was meant for Mokuba flew harmlessly where his head was a second ago, as Kaede turned and shot the man who had aimed at him in the stomach, causing him to fall as a second shot rang out.

Tatsuki was an excellent bodyguard though, and threw himself in the bullet's path before it could hit Seto Kaiba. The shot took him in the chest, propelling him backwards before he crumpled on the ground.

Panic immediately broke out, guests running for the doors as other security guards sprang from their places to tackle the two gunmen. Kaede swore and wished she could check on her father, wished she had acted sooner…

But danger was afloat, and she had a different role now. She leapt to her feet, dragging Mokuba up with her, grabbing Kaiba's arm, and briskly pulling them both towards her, as they heard a few more shots ring out, muted by the loud crowd.

"Follow me NOW!" she gruffly yelled, waving them to follow her, and breaking off at a jog towards her previous watch post. The two Kaibas, both shocked to say the least, followed her closely, as Kaede led the way, gun at the ready as she carefully kept her guard up.

She was quick enough to drop another man by shooting him in the chest just as he was aiming a shot at the brothers. Mokuba cried out, and Seto quickly pulled him behind him, growling as they followed Kaede to the stairs.

"These go all the way to the roof!" she yelled over the noise, waving at the stairs with her gun, urging them to go up, "start running for it, no one will be able to target you there!"

They obeyed without a word, Kaiba briskly taking the stairs 2 at a time, while Mokuba sprinted as fast as he could, breathing quickly becoming laboured. Kaede stayed behind them, watching their backs, and constantly looking over her shoulder to make sure they weren't being followed.

After climbing the several stories of the event hall, they finally reached the final door, which Kaiba broke out to the roof with an 'oomf' of effort. The three of them spilled out into the chilly fall night air, while Kaede secured the door behind them, speaking as she did in a low, serious voice, "Stick to the wall where you will be hidden by the shadows. I will call in a helicopter to return to the estate where I will go with you to make sure there's no more trouble," she ordered as she shouldered the door back into place.

Without another word, she slipped a sleek phone out of the chest of her dress, blatantly ignoring the look Kaiba gave her, and pressed a speed dial button, waiting one ring before speaking into the phone.

"Peter, it's Kaede, bring the helicopter to the roof of the event hall immediately, we're already waiting for you," she spoke briskly, hanging up without waiting for a reply. Only then did she finally look to the Kaiba brothers to examine them. "Are either of you harmed at all?" she asked in a softer voice, wariness in her silver eyes. Mokuba carefully shook his head, fear still in his eyes, while Kaiba did nothing at all. Letting out a sigh of relief she didn't know she was holding in. she carefully slid down the wall, placing her gun and phone beside her, pulling her legs into her chest and looking out into the night. Her brother found unconscious from a struggle, her father shot in the chest… and she didn't know how either of them were doing. They could still hear commotion at the front doors, as security was still helping people get out safely, police and ambulance sirens now accompanying the fearful shrieks of the attendees, but it was quieter than before.

Kaede decided to try her radio for a status update.

 _"Bzzt…. It's Kaede. The Kaiba brothers are secure. Is… does anyone have an update on my dad and brother?"_ she ended in a whisper. Her radio was still cranked to the max from earlier, so it was just loud enough for the brothers to hear the reply she got.

 _"Bzzt… hey Kae, it's Shuichi. We're about cleared out of the building. Cops are cuffing and taking away all the shooters we found. Hiroki woke up just as they were loading him into the ambulance, so he should be okay. T… Tat- your father went in an ambulance too. It didn't look good. He bled out pretty badly. I'm sorry, Kae… over."_

She lost her hard expression and instead opted for something a little more vulnerable and miserable. She shook her head, and took the earpiece off, shoving it into her dress. She stood up and put her phone away, but kept her gun loosely at her side, standing at the ready, sending harsh looks into the night.

She focused on regaining her composure and steeling her emotions again. She could not afford to let her emotions swallow her while on the job, she could not afford to let anything happen to the brothers her father had spent his life protecting. She could not-

"Hey… Kaede?" Mokuba had quietly stepped up beside her. He was looking up at her with a sad, understanding expression. "Thank you for… you know, saving me back there. And Seto too. You really saved our butts and kept us safe. You're totally my hero," he finished with a small smile. Kaede had never really interacted with either of the brothers, but Mokuba had immediately made a shining first impression on her. She sadly smiled back, placing a hand on Mokuba's shoulder.

She looked into Mokuba's violet eyes, and suddenly felt better, "Just doing my job, Kaiba Jr. You make me sound like Batman or something though! I'm just glad you're both safe," she said softly back, making Mokuba beam widely, and even Kaiba raised a curious eyebrow. Just then, the whirring of spinning blades approached them, and a quick look above them showed that Peter was approaching in one of the Kaiba Corp helicopters. Kaede went silent then, and stepped out of the shadows to wave him closer. He dropped a rope ladder, and they all climbed up to the copter, Peter nodding at them as Kaede came up last, shutting the door closed, and making sure the two brothers were secure.

They took off at last, and only then, did Kaiba, who was sitting in the front seat with Peter, look back at her, and gave her a respectful nod, "Good job, Erizawa. Don't worry about your family members, I will ensure they get the best care Domino has to offer," he said in an emotionless voice, but Kaede perked up nonetheless, and even Mokuba gave him a surprised look. Kaiba did not usually have such praise and care to go around.

Feeling a little more relieved, she pulled out her little phone again, and hit another speed dial button. Once again, it only rang once, "Kaede here. We emergency evacuated the Kaiba brothers and are returning to the estate as we speak. Do a preliminary sweep of the gate and grounds, and I will accompany them tonight to make sure no more unsavoury characters appear. We'll arrive shortly," and again, she hung up without waiting for a reply.

;

Arriving at the Kaiba mansion was a much calmer affair. Roland and the house security team had done their sweep and had nothing to report when they landed. Kaede kept her gun out again as she escorted the Kaiba brothers into their home, Doing her own personal room sweeps, including the bedrooms when they reached them. She double checked the windows, pulled down the shades, and gestured for Mokuba to go in before doing the same to Kaiba's room which was just down the hall. Kaiba rolled his eyes, he was perfectly able to take care of himself, but said nothing. Tatsuki was probably dead, and letting her do what she needed to feel secure was important now.

"All clear, Kaiba, I will stay in this hallway until I can ramp up security around the mansion," she nodded dutifully towards him while he just crossed his arms and examined her. He had known of Kaede before as a relative of two of his best security officers, but had never directly interacted with her. She didn't usually have a field role, from what he could recall. She didn't look like she ever would based on appearance alone, but Kaiba had been convinced of her capabilities tonight. She did not stand very tall at 5'2, and was a small woman. However, her arms were chiselled and toned, and he could only imagine the rest of her was made of solid muscle as well. She had long, messy black hair that after all the excitement of the night, had lost its ponytail, and now was draped all around her. Her long bangs hung in her face, and were also messy, probably from her running her hands through it constantly during all the stress. She had striking silver eyes, and pale skin, which were her only standout features in the dim room, the rest of her looking rather plain.

He said nothing, and nodded to her, turning into his room. His absence allowed Kaede to lose her tightly held composure as her eyes moistened, and she turned around fiercely, feeling very lost and vulnerable. She didn't even notice when Mokuba slid back out of his room, and tightly hugged her around the middle.

"Kaede… I promise we'll try to take care of your brother and father! Thank you for all of your protection, I know Seto won't say thank you, but trust me, he's really glad you were there to take care of me," Mokuba said into her shoulder before pulling away. Kaede gave him a watery smile, not feeling any need to put on a mask for the younger Kaiba brother.

"Get to bed, mini Kaiba, it's been a really... really long night," she said with a slump of the shoulders. He smiled back and walked back into his room, calling over his shoulder to say, "It's just Mokuba. Goodnight, Kaede!"

;

Kaiba felt a rare stab of pain as he watched Kaede Erizawa try to sob unnoticed as she leaned into her brother, who was thanking guests for coming to Tatsuki's funeral. He shifted very uncomfortably in his well-tailored suit. He didn't want to be here, but Mokuba insisted they had to go, as it was Seto's life Tatsuki had saved, giving his own life in the process. Mokuba looked sadly at the Erizawa siblings, as they struggled to stay strong as they idly greeted various friends and family members who approached them.

"Hey… Seto? They're orphans like us now, aren't they? I don't see their mother anywhere…" he drifted off, looking even more troubled. Seto nodded solemnly, feeling the same emotions as Mokuba, but not letting it show. He gestured to Mokuba, and they strode over to be the next to approach Kaede and Hiroki.

"Kaede… We're so sorry," Mokuba said sadly, quickly approaching her for a hug. Kaede hiccupped, and hugged him back, closing her eyes, "Th-thank you… Mokuba," she said, her voice wavering. Hiroki nodded appreciatively to the young Kaiba and shook his hand after he released Kaede.

Seto approached next, not really knowing what to do, as he didn't really have Mokuba's touch with people. He awkwardly glanced at the two siblings as they expectantly looked back.

"I'm… sorry," he muttered under his breath, diverting his gaze, "why don't you two… take the rest of the week off. Return Monday to your posts though; keeping our security high at the mansion is still top priority in the face of the police's failure to find out who orchestrated the attack.

He nodded at them both, then pulled Mokuba away, walking away from Kaede's shocked and annoyed eyes. She hiccupped again, glaring into the CEO's back, "nice apology, asshole," she blubbered out. Hiroki just sighed.

 **A/N: Hello people of the world! This is your generic, run of the mill, SetoXOC story... sort of. It was originally posted with the same title under my old account, Nyx Nightmare. 2 years later, this is a rewritten version that is guaranteed to go longer than 2 chapters. I hope you enjoyed the introductory chapter, I welcome and encourage all feedback! I am already nearly done chapter 2. Just needs to be edited and slapped on the sight. Look forward to it!**

 **-Nyx**


	2. Heartless

**From Out of Nowhere**

 **Chapter 2: Heartless**

 **I own nothing, not even eggs and bread. I truly need groceries.**

On Monday morning, Kaede sauntered off to her post in the small security house hidden in the corner of the Kaiba estate, a large thermos of coffee in one hand, and her breakfast in the other. She had never handled mornings well, and her position had her coming it at 7am to relieve the night shift. Kaede was in charge of monitoring the security cameras around the grounds and inside the mansion. It was actually a system she herself had setup as her first assignment upon joining the security team, the old cameras and setup were terribly updated when she arrived.

She mumbled a goodbye to Shiro, the friendly old man who kept watch at night, as he smiled and left to go home, before settling into her chair, taking a quick glance at all the screens before muttering incoherently to herself as she rubbed her bleary eyes and tried to fight the urge to smack her forehead right down on the desk and fall asleep.

She hadn't cried since the funeral, but she was having a lot of trouble sleeping. She kept seeing the man who had killed her father, the wide, scared eyes of the Kaiba brothers, her brother in a bed at the hospital, unconscious, but recovering…

She sighed and took a huge gulp of her black coffee, picking at her fast food breakfast as she went about her regular morning, checking the equipment, switching over the recording tapes, and keeping vigilant watch over the mansion.

;

Kaiba sighed as Mokuba sent him those pleading eyes he found so hard to resist. He never bent to anyone's will, but Mokuba was the exception.

"Seto, I don't want some old guy in a black suit following me everywhere and spending my days with me! I'm 13, I don't need a babysitter! Besides, what about you?!" Mokuba complained loudly, throwing his hands up. Kaiba tightened his glare. He would usually listen to Mokuba's wishes, but a situation like this was different.

Kaiba spoke in a strict voice, to convey that this was not up for debate, "Mokuba, you know just as well as I do that the police have no leads on what the motive for attacking the gala was, or who was in charge of the attack. What we do know is that they attempted to kill both you and me, and until the creeps behind this are found, we need to be extra careful. Especially you. You're getting a bodyguard, no arguments. As for your concern for me, I have already asked someone to guard me," he finished with a frown. Mokuba had often been the target of many a kidnapping in an attempt to get to the elder Kaiba. It was no secret that Mokuba was the one way to get to the blue eyed CEO.

"Still, Seto! Satoshi? He's old and grumpy, and won't even talk to me while we're stuck with each other, and who knows how long it'll take the police to find the bad guys! And he smells like fish!" Mokuba argued back, growing increasingly desperate. Kaiba narrowed his brows. The comment on Satoshi's smell was hardly relevant, and he had been on the security team for years-

"Oh, Seto! How about Kaede instead? She's younger, nicer, and you saw how good she is at her job. If you're going to make me have a bodyguard, I should at least get a say in who it is," Mokuba paused after that looking thoughtful for a second, "and she smells like flowers, much better than Satoshi." Kaiba deadpanned, but sighed. It did make some sort of sense. The girl wasn't very experienced, but she was good, and keeping Mokuba happy with all this trouble going on was important…

He gave his younger brother a tight lipped look for a moment while Mokuba worked his best puppy dog eyes. Finally, Seto nodded, releasing his breath, "Fine. Let's go tell her now, she runs the security cameras." Mokuba beamed at his older brother and enthusiastically jumped to his feet to go find Kaede with Seto.

As they left the room, Hiroki, who had been standing outside the door went to follow them, but Kaiba waved him down, "Hiroki, wait here for me, I'm giving your sister a new assignment and then I'll be back." he said shortly without looking him in the eye. Hiroki's eyes bulged for a second, but as ordered, didn't move from his spot. _'I, I thought Kaede would be safe from this mess, just watching the cameras. I guess she did a little too well at the gala, and they decided on a bodyguard for Mokuba….'_

;

Kaede, who usually spends her entire shifts by her lonesome self, was shocked when a pair of people entered her little domain without even knocking. She quickly spun around to see Kaiba and Mokuba at the door. Kaiba was scowling and looked generally unpleasant, as per what she knew about the elusive man, and Mokuba just smiled widely at her and gave her an enthusiastic greeting.

She smiled back, "Hey, Little Kaiba. Good morning, Big Kaiba. What's up?" she asked casually, taking a sip from her newly refilled thermos. Kaiba frowned in response to her casual attitude. He expected a much more professional demeanor from all his employees at all times. He was going to reprimand her, but Mokuba's laugh filled the room, and he decided to let it go so long as Mokuba liked her.

"Erizawa. With the tightened security, I've decided to up the measures taken to protect Mokuba and myself by assigning us both personal bodyguards. While Hiroki will be staying with me, Mokuba requested that you accompany him," he said shortly, looking annoyed that he had to _personally_ walk down to the grounds to inform her of this. Her eyebrows just heightened in surprise. Personal bodyguard? It was much higher above her current station. Not that she minded too much. After the original implementation of the new camera system she set up, actually watching the footage was… really boring.

"Yeah, Kaede! So you'll get to go with me wherever I go, hang out with us in the mansion, we're going to have a blast!" Mokuba exclaimed enthusiastically. At this, she cocked an eyebrow and glanced from him to Kaiba.

"Sooo… I'm your… babysitter…" she said cautiously, causing Mokuba to laugh again and shoot his brother a look, making Kaiba scowl further.

"Erizawa, this is a serious appointment, and I expect you to treat it as such. Mokuba's life could be in danger and it'll be your job to keep him safe from harm at all costs. Am I making myself clear?" He finished with one of his famous ice stares. Kaede suppressed a shudder, and instead, hopped to her feet and gave him an overly stiff mock salute, much to Mokuba's delight. "Aye aye, captain bossman!" she loudly said, giving Kaiba a _very_ serious look. He glowered at her, and this time, she did falter, feeling significantly loomed over.

"My office, 8pm, Erizawa. Someone else will cover your post," he said stoically, before turning on his heel and quickly striding away, leaving her and Mokuba alone.

Her eye twitched, as she glared at Kaiba's back, "Well someone's got something long and pointy shoved up his a-" she stopped herself quickly looking at Mokuba, blinking rapidly, "… What I meant to say is, hello Mokuba, what an honor it is to be your bodyguard," she said for a flourishing curtsy. Mokuba just laughed at her and grabbed her arm to lead her out of the room.

"Come on, Kaede, let's go hang out a bit and get to know each other. Don't mind Seto, he's just under a lot of stress right now," Mokuba said cheerfully, pulling her towards the mansion. She rolled her eyes, but said nothing, and went with Mokuba willingly. She had never spent time around Kaiba before, but so far, he was matching up pretty well with all the negative stories she had heard about him.

;

Mokuba's idea of "getting to know each other" was really just him asking her approximately one gazillion questions, while Kaede gave exasperated answers.

"How old are you?"

"Twenty one"

"Do you play duel monsters?"

"No"

"What's your favorite colour?"

"Blue"

"Favorite drink?"

"Black coffee"

"Okay, okay…. Favorite food?"

"Pizza"

"Have any hobbies?"

"Uh, I guess running and building programs"

"Programs? Like computer games and stuff?"

"Yeah, sort of, I'm a software engineer"

Mokuba's eyes widened in surprise and he responded with a, "Wow, that's really cool Kaede!" Giving her a wide grin. Then the grilling just continued.

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

"What?! No, but don't get any funny ideas, junior!"

"Do you like video games?"

"Yes"

"What ones?"

"Lots. Some of my favorites are the Left for Dead series, fighting games, and rpgs like Dragon Age and stuff"

"Great, I have all of those! Can you drive?"

The interrogation continued for a very long time, finally ending when Kaede screamed, "NO MORE QUESTIONS!" holding her head in despair, looking at Mokuba with desperate eyes. Mokuba looked at her, then nodded, looking thoughtful and satisfied with the information he earned, making Kaede feel like she had passed some sort of job interview after already getting the job.

"Alright, Kaede, come on, Anna will make us some lunch then we can watch a movie!"

;

As it turns out, the Kaiba brothers were _very very_ different. In fact, they couldn't be more different, in Kaede's opinion. She had sincerely enjoyed spending the day with the younger Kaiba. After an amazing grilled cheese sandwich made by Kaiba's personal chef, they hunkered down with _Zombieland_ (Mokuba's pick after finding out how much of a zombie fan Kaede was) and then played some _Left 4 Dead_ afterwards, again, Mokuba trying to make her feel as welcome as possible. She was already very fond of Mokuba, just after one day of personal time with him. After that, she took him out for a ride on the back of her motorcycle and they grabbed milkshakes and fries for dinner, before heading back to the mansion, where Mokuba shower her where his room was, and broke out his duel monster cards to try and explain the rules to her.

It appeared poor Kaede was just not cut out for the duel monsters life, because she couldn't make heads or tails out of what Mokuba was saying. Finally, at eight o'clock, she left him to sort out his deck, brain thoroughly scrambled as she made her way to Kaiba's home office following Mokuba's directions through the winding maze that was the humongous Kaiba mansion.

She gave an extremely disgruntled double knock on the large oak doors. She was already uncomfortable. She wasn't scared of Kaiba by any means, but she just knew that he was going to be an ass, and she wouldn't be able to hold in a joking remark, and then he was going to give her the Kaiba glare ™ and try his best to turn her into a pile of ash with just his eyes, and they'd both come out of this in a bad mood.

From inside the doors, she was graced with a muffled and monotone, "come in" from the glaremaster himself. She braced herself for a lecture, and opened the door, surprised by what she saw inside.

The room was large, but… cozy. Behind Kaiba's desk was a large window overlooking the well-kept grounds, with large, cool blue curtains open to let the sight in. Along the walls were bookshelves and bookshelves of every type of book. Kaede noticed biographies, encyclopedias, philosophy, science, programming references, business, and even a few science fiction and fantasy titles that she recognized. In the corner behind his desk, there was a small table laden with a coffee maker, several types of teas, and an assortment of mugs. There were also a few pictures on the shelves and his desk, all of Mokuba with or without Kaiba. The walls were a warm brown, and the only lights on in the room were the two lamps on either side of Kaiba's desk. Of course, the CEO was seated behind the desk, but to Kaede's surprise, he looked exhausted, not angry or annoyed; just like he needed some comfort and a good night's sleep. Even more surprising, as she was expecting a lecture, was Hiroki, seated in one of the two plush armchairs facing the desk.

Instead of asking any questions, Kaede just gave them both confused glances, and sat down beside her brother. Kaiba shut his laptop and put his elbows on the desk, crossing his fingers, regarding them both.

"I think you both know why you're here and what I need to ask from you," he spoke with usual lack of expression in his dull, commanding voice, but Kaede noticed a strange emotion in his eyes, which was the only thing that kept her quiet, as she _didn't_ know why she was here now. Hiroki nodded solemnly, but Kaede stayed still and continued studying the tired young CEO in front of her.

"We still don't know who those thugs from the gala are, or why they seem to be interested in us," he started, a frown creeping its way on his face, "so unfortunately, until future notice, security of Mokuba is of top priority, and is an around the clock position, day and night," he said, glancing at Kaede. Kaede's eyes widened, recognizing the strange emotion she had noticed in him as… fear. Concern. He was worried about Mokuba, and by the way he was acting and talking, much less concerned for himself. Kaede's father and brother had worked for the Kaibas long enough for her to know how much people will try to get to Kaiba through Mokuba. She lowered her eyes, nodding.

Her father gave his life to protect the Kaiba brothers. Even a jerk like Kaiba didn't deserve to have a bunch of guns after him, and after just a day with Mokuba, soaking in his exuberant spirit, she could feel her protective instincts kicking in as Kaiba spoke. She definitely wouldn't let anything happen to him, she decided with a scowl.

Kaiba pushed a pile of papers towards the two of them, "new contracts, and new salaries, if you choose to stay in this position. Hiroki, I personally requested you to guard me, and Kaede, Mokuba wanted you. However, I can't make either of you stay, this could turn out to be a dangerous job.

Hiroki hesitated, but Kaede grabbed her contract and pulled it towards her, reading over the summary furiously. Staying by Mokuba's side, swearing to protect his life at all costs, must stay nights in the mansion to be on hand at night, blah blah blah. Bunch of money that she didn't care about. This was to protect the Kaiba brothers from the goons who had killed her father. She would not allow them to take another life.

She grabbed a pen from the desk and ferociously signed her name, poking a hole in the paper when she dotted the 'i' in Erizawa, pushing it back towards Kaiba viciously. She was angry now. She could see it now. Kaiba was terrified of losing Mokuba. She wouldn't allow there to be even a risk of that. She crossed her arms and stared down the CEO who gave her a raised eyebrow and took the papers back from her as Hiroki much more carefully read the contract in its entirety, finally signing and politely handing it back to Kaiba, who nodded back at him.

"Hiroki, I will have a moment with your sister before you both leave," Kaiba quietly ordered, eyes back on Kaede. Hiroki silently left, closing the door behind him, leaving Kaede alone in a room with the eldest Kaiba brother for the first time ever.

Kaiba put his hands down and examined her for a second, and Kaede held his gaze.

"Erizawa. I don't doubt your brother Hiroki will take after his father and take care of me. But are you just as trustworthy to take care of Mokuba? He's more important, and will probably attract more… danger than I will. I need to know you're reliable and strong. Nothing can happen to Mokuba, or I'll be… very upset. Do you understand me?'

Kaede twitched. Was he… threatening her? After she had so eagerly signed his stupid contract, selling her life over to them, after her father had only lost his life saving this arrogant pig a week ago? Did he really think-

Before she could control herself, Kaede gave out a yell of anger and jumped to her feet, slamming her hands on Kaiba's desk, making his belongings clammer atop of it, to which he didn't even bat an eye.

"Listen here, pretty boy!" she angrily spat at him, glaring daggers into his stupid cold eyes, "If it weren't for my father, and for me for that matter, you'd be nothing but a dead body on the floor, skin as cold as your heart, bossman! You are unspeakably lucky to have had such a brave man like my father spend his life protecting your dumb undeserving ass! You should've been shot instead of him, but look what happened.

"If you think for even a second that after my father died to keep you alive, I would let someone hurt a damn hair on Mokuba's head, you're out of your mind. I may think you're a despicable jerk, but a sweet kid like Mokuba doesn't deserve any part in this. If he needs a damn full time babysitter, I'm the best one there is, and after the gala, you damn well know it too," she finished, matching Kaiba's outraged glare. They stood, glaring at each other, until Kaiba spoke, not breaking eye contact.

"Watch yourself Erizawa. You need an attitude check," he growled at her. Kaede scoffed, retorting back, "I think you do too, asshat. You can count on me for Mokuba's protection, but _you_ have none of my respect, because apparently, you have none for me. I have a name, sort of how you use Hiroki's? It's Kaede, and maybe you forgot, but a week ago, I saved both of your lives without so much as a thank you."

Kaiba stared at her for a long while before loosening his glare and settling back in his chair, exhaustion taking his expression over, making Kaede recoil in surprise.

"I have a name too, Erizawa. Go. There's a car waiting for you outside. You will return later tonight with enough of your belongings for a prolonged stay," he said, monotonous voice back again, as he turned his chair around to face away from her. Kaede silently took her hands off his desk, and turned on her heel without another word. As she opened the door, she caught a picture of a young Mokuba running towards the camera with a smile, and heard said boy's laugh from somewhere far down the hall, the only thing filling the suddenly very lonely-feeling mansion.

Just before she shut the door behind her, she caught a defeated sigh from the young CEO. She slowly walked to the front to meet Hiroki, mouth turning into a thin line. Maybe she shouldn't have gotten so angry, but she always did have a quick mouth. She saw now, as she climbed silently into a limo waiting for her, Hiroki already inside, that Seto Kaiba, most powerful man in Domino city, multi-billionaire, and owner of everything he wanted, was afraid of losing Mokuba; afraid of losing everything.

 **A/N: Hope you enjoyed reading! All feedback welcome. Next chapter should be up in a week or so. It'll be more plot and character building before the action begins, but hopefully that's still exciting enough to keep you reading.**

 **-Nyx**


	3. Cold

**From Out of Nowhere**

 **Chapter 3: Cold**

 **I need to go grocery shopping this week too ;_; still don't own anything.**

Tuesday morning, Kaede awoke to large crashing sounds. They were under attack. She shot up, eyes still bleary with sleep, as she frantically grabbed for the baseball bat she usually kept beside her bed. She panicked when her hand couldn't find it, and quickly rubbed her eyes with the back of the hand, opening her wide eyes, glancing around for a weapon-

She wasn't at home. She was in a large, king size bed with silver sheets and a duvet to match. Her bed had a post at each corner, bed drapes hanging from the railing that ran overtop all of them. The room was huge. There was a desk made of dark wood, a very cushy looking rolling chair facing it, with a matching wide dresser, tall dresser, nightstands, and two bookshelves around the room. The wood her bed frame was made of matched as well. There were large windows along the wall to her right side, all with the same silver drapes that fell all the way to the ground. There was a chandelier in the center of the large room, and another door that she suddenly remembered led to a large powder room with marbles floors, ridiculous amounts of counter space, a bathtub with jets, the largest shower she had ever seen, and a toilet with a handle, that she swore, was made out of real silver.

And there was the crashing.

"Kaede! Are you awake? Come on, there's lots of awesome stuff I want to do with you today!" Mokuba's muffled voice came from the other side of the french doors that led to her current sleeping arrangement. He then resumed banging his fists on the door.

"Come on, it's 10 o'clock already! I've been waiting for you to have breakfast!" Kaede blinked, hurriedly looking to the clock on one of the nightstands, seeing that it was indeed, 10 in the morning. She shook her head, clambering out of the comfortable bed. That was her first good night's sleep since her father died.

She scrambled to the door and opened it before Mokuba could start knocking some more. His face lit up at her as she glared at him, hair a mess and pajamas twisted around her.

"Good morning, Kaede! Hey, you kind of look like Seto with that expression!" Mokuba exclaimed happily, causing her to glower further. Before she could give him a bitter retort however, she stopped herself. This was her job now. Right. Bodyguard. Babysitter. Same thing. She waved him in, and he ran in, jumping onto her bed and seating himself.

"Hold on, Mokuba. Let me run a brush through my hair and through on some clothes. Then we'll go down and have breakfast," she explained to the exuberant boy, trying to shake herself awake while looking through her still packed bags for a change of clothes. Mokuba patiently whipped out his phone and waited as she went into the bathroom to freshen up and get ready.

;

Breakfast was waffles with choice toppings of strawberries and whipped cream. Kaede happily dug in while Mokuba chatted on about their day and what games they should play and could she take him out on her motorcycle again because it was so cool.

"Oh, oh, and we should go to the game shop today, Kaede! I want to look at the new duel monster cards they got in, and then you can meet the gang!" Mokuba exclaimed enthusiastically. Kaede raised an eyebrow at him, and before she could reply, he shuffled a little closer and put his hand around his mouth, lowering his voice. "Maybe don't mention it to Seto though. He, uh, doesn't _mind_ when I go see them, but he just sort of… tolerates it," he said grimly. Kaede just raised a higher eyebrow with a bit of a smile.

"Anything to piss off Captain Kaiba! It's a clear day so we can go on my motorcycle as long as you can direct me," she said with a wink, making Mokuba laugh a little bit.

After breakfast and giving Mokuba some time to get his deck together and slip it into his jacket pocket, they headed out, Kaede weaving in and out of traffic on her black motorcycle while Mokuba held on to her waist laughing.

Mokuba occasionally told her where to turn and what streets to take, and they shortly arrived at the game shop. Mokuba excitedly jumped off, putting the helmet Kaede made him wear on the seat, and jogging for the door, waving for Kaede to follow. She sighed at Mokuba's exuberance, rubbing her eyes and slowly walking behind him. When she went through the door and opened her eyes and was greeted with quite the sight. A boy, slightly shorter than herself, with the wackiest hair she had ever seen was facing towards the door, already greeting Mokuba with a smile and getting into a conversation. There was an old guy behind the counter chatting with a tall brown haired girl. There was a tall man with pointed brown hair and a tan trench coat in an argument with someone with crazy spiky black hair, while a man with a messy blonde mop on top of his head interjected occasionally and-

"Wait, Joey?" she suddenly exclaimed, looking at him with surprise. Joey looked over from his struggle with the other two, and grinned ear to ear at her, forgetting about his fight immediately, "Hey, look who it is! Kaede, I ain't seen you in forever!"

Kaede blinked a few times before responding, "Joey, I saw you last week at the funeral," she said, shaking her head. Mokuba looked at her with a surprised expression.

"Hey, Kaede, you already know these guys then?" He asked. Kaede shook her head, just pointing at Joey. "Only him, his girlfriend is one of my best friends. I don't know anyone else, Mokuba," she said, shrugging towards the rest of the room.

Joey then moved his eyes to the shorter boy accompanying her.

"Ehhh, Kaede, you hang out with Mokuba, what's up with that? How do you know him?" Joey asked, looking at them suspiciously, separating himself from the other boys.

"Kaede works for my big brother, she's my bodyguard!" Mokuba cut in, making everyone else recoil in surprise. Joey was the one with the loudest reaction.

"NYEHHH? Kaede, I knew you were into the security stuff, I didn't know you worked for Kaiba though! What's wrong with you, are you crazy?" Kaede blinked at him as the brown haired girl chastised him, and the eccentric haired one approached her.

"So… you're a bodyguard for the Kaiba brothers then?" the boy about her height asked. Kaede just sort of shrugged in response, jerking her head towards Mokuba.

"For Mokuba, yeah. Bossman can choke on the stick shoved all the way up his ass for all I care though," she said scowling, making Mokuba give her a dirty look and for Joey and the brown haired boy to start laughing profusely, while the boy who has just talked to her and the girl looked a little concerned. She caught a look a Mokuba's face and started to backpedal a little desperately, "Oh, Mokuba, haha, just… me, teasing a bit! Don't worry, I don't want Kaiba to choke on a stick, I'm trained in CPR. There will be no choking while I'm here!" she said, defensively putting her hands up. This caused the rest of them to laugh, while the old man chuckled a bit before speaking.

"Yugi, the store's getting a little crowded, why don't all of you head upstairs for some drinks and some games?" the old man suggested. The boy named Yugi nodded enthusiastically, and waved everyone towards him. Let's go guys! Kaede, Mokuba, you coming?" Mokuba nodded and Kaede took one look at Mokuba, back to the others and shrugged her shoulders.

She nudged Mokuba playfully with her elbow, "Sounds great, finally some adult company instead of just hanging around with Mokie all day," she joked. Joey guffawed loudly, but Mokuba just paused before turning to give her an unreadable smile.

They went up to the apartment Yugi shared with his grandpa and while he and the girl went to get some lemonade to go around, Kaede was introduced to the others.

"Ehh, alright Kaede, this guy next to me is Tristan, we've been friends with him since high school, and this guy over here is Duke Devlin, who we didn't like at first, but he came around eventually. That girl over there is our other best friend Tea, and the short guy over there is of course, Yugi Moto, king of games!"

Kaede just blinked. That title sounded sort of familiar… but she just shrugged it off. "A pleasure, all of you. What a small world, when Mokuba said he wanted me to meet some people Kaiba didn't like, I never expected you! All though, with your personality… yeah, I can see why…" She drifted off thoughtfully making Joey scowl while Tristan laughed.

"Anyways, Kaede," Tristan said, turning to her. "You don't look like the usual big and brawly type Kaiba hires. Aren't you a little small to be a bodygu-"

It took the blink of an eye for Kaede to leap over the table they were sitting around, knock Tristan onto his front on the ground, and lock him in place with her limbs so he couldn't budge an inch.

She stuck her nose in the air proudly as she held him, a shocked Yugi and Duke looking on. Joey laughed, and Tea was giving her a slightly approving look.

"Care to finish that sentence, spikehead? I'm trained in 3 types of martial arts, am the Domino lightweight mixed martial arts champion, and I'm pretty good with a gun too," she said with a huff. Tristan cried out from under her, "Uncle, uncle, I get it, don't mess with the bodyguard, let me go!"

Tea laughed, as Kaede reluctantly got off of him, going back to her seat beside Joey. Tea placed the lemonade down with Yugi, and they too settled down, while Mokuba regarded her with awe.

"I… am not small. I'm quite proud of my mighty height of 5'2, thank you very much," she said, nodding her head to Tristan. She got a few snickers in response, but nobody said anything to contradict her.

Joey laughed like a maniac, "Ehh, Tristan, you got what was comin' to ya! Mai says Kaede is undefeated at her dojo, and everyone underestimates her just like you just did!" Yugi and Mokuba joined in, as Mokuba added in, "Yep, she's definitely small but deadly, you should see her in action!"

Kaede turned to Mokuba with her arms crossed over her chest, eyebrow raised. "You would know a thing or two about being small, short-fry," she muttered, making everyone else laugh again.

They all quickly broke into chattering, and it wasn't long until the duel monster cards came out, and Joey and Yugi broke out into a friendly duel while everyone else watched and held their own conversations. Mokuba was watching them duel with fervor, while Kaede settled to the side with Tea to talk about other things. Tea asked how she became a bodyguard, and Kaede regaled the tale of the past 2 weeks while Tea expressed the appropriate amount of sadness and horror at certain points.

"Kaede, your father, that's so terrible… I don't know what to say," Tea said, looking down at her hands. Kaede shrugged, giving her new friend a weak smile, "Thank you Tea, but don't worry. I'm trying not to dwell on it. I just want the Kaibas safe so my father didn't die in vain. Hopefully, the police get a lead and can hunt down the guys that did this soon."

Tea nodded in agreement before asking, "so what's it like working for Kaiba? We've known him for a few years, and he can be a little…"

"Arrogant? Egotistic? Annoying? Rude? Downright mean? Demeaning?" Kaede helpfully interjected a few suggestions of her own.

"Don't forget cruel!"

"Yeah, and selfish!" Duke and Tristan supplied, having supposedly been eavesdropping. Tea sighed, nodding a little bit. Kaede looked thoughtful, thinking about her interaction with him the night before, before stiffly nodding her head.

"He's a little hard to work with… to put it lightly. He's a ginormous rich jerk. But, at least I get to spend my time with Mokuba, and not him. I feel less like a bodyguard, and more like… a friend who is contractually obligated to never leave him alone in any dark alleys. I can handle bossman for that," Kaede said, puffing out her chest.

Mokuba shot her a bit of a sour smile, "Come on Kaede, he isn't that bad…" he started, but paused at the look Kaede, Joey, Tristan, and Duke were all giving him. He laughed nervously, "Okay, you just haven't seen his good side yet, but trust me, my brother's the best!" Mokuba proudly announced. Yugi and Tea supplied him with helpful grins, but the others just gave him a flat stare, as Kaede silently wondered if Mokuba was completely delusional.

;

They ended up staying at Yugi's house all afternoon, leaving in time to get back to the mansion at Mokuba's insistence, just in case Kaiba made it home from work on time today.

He didn't, and judging by Mokuba's downcast look as he picked at the roast chicken and potatoes that had been prepared for them by one of the maids before she left for the day, this was a very disappointing fact.

Kaede internally sighed, putting on a bit of a smile, and nudging Mokuba a little bit with her arm as they sat alone at the huge Kaiba dining table.

"Hey, Mokie… why the long face? We had a great afternoon, and now we can do whatever you want before bed!" she said, putting in as much enthusiasm into her words as she could. She watched the younger boy closely as he paused to give her a curious look for a moment, before shaking his head, and looking back down at his dinner.

"It's just… Seto is always working long hours. He never takes care of himself, and I barely ever see him. There are days where he's gone before I wake up, and doesn't come home until after I'm asleep. I kind of thought that with everything that happened, he'd be spending more time at home, but…" his defeated look at the empty chair at the head of the table beside him said it all. Kaede concealed the frown that was pulling at her face. Mokuba must be really lonely, eating dinner all alone in the towering mansion every night, only maids and security guards wandering around to keep him company.

She had some strong words to share with the elder Kaiba on the topic.

"Have you tried asking him to come home more?" Kaede asked carefully, not wanting to upset Mokuba anymore than he was already. Mokuba sighed, putting his fork down and giving up on food all together.

"All the time! But it's always, 'I'll try, Mokuba,' or, 'I'm busy, Mokuba,' or, 'maybe next week, Mokuba,'. He's always been like this I guess… But since he's turned his focus more and more towards the company and making Kaiba corp more successful, he's been home and spending less time with me than ever. He doesn't even pay much attention to me when I try and visit him at work…" Mokuba finished with a mutter, looking sad.

Kaede's protective instincts were in overdrive, and if Mokuba weren't in front of her, she'd have fire in her eyes and be cracking her knuckles threateningly as she planned Kaiba's demise.

Instead, she plastered on a pleasant, reassuring smile, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Oh, Mokuba, don't worry, you know he clearly…" she paused, struggling to say the words, "cares about you very much. He's just so loving, and uh… not good at expressing it," she tried, eye twitching a little as she tried to picture the elder Kaiba as 'loving'.

"But, uh, hey, together we can think of a way to get him to come home earlier! Then he can join us for these… lovely dinners. Just the three of us. Four with Hiroki, it'll be amazing. For now though, how about some dessert and some post-dinner video games?" she finished with fake excitement. Mokuba overcame his episode, and threw her a winning grin. Either he didn't notice how much she struggled with those words, or he appreciated the effort enough to ignore it.

"Yeah, come on, Kaede, race you to the game room!"

;

A little after midnight, with Mokuba yawning and struggling to aim for the zombies' heads, they decided to turn in for the night. Kaede dutifully escorted Mokuba up to his room, trying not to scream.

Kaiba still wasn't home. Was this really what Mokuba dealt with everyday? An empty mansion, no one to bid him goodnight? She was fuming.

They stopped at his door, and as Mokuba went to open it, Kaede swallowed hard, and grabbed his shoulder spinning him around to face her.

"What's this? Trying to go to bed without saying goodnight, I think not!" To the young boy's surprise, she grabbed him into a quick hug, before pulling back away and ruffling his hair.

"Goodnight! I'm right next door if you need me. Sleep tight, Mokuba!" she said, smiling warmly at him. At the surprise and warmth in his eyes, and the softness and happiness in his smile, she knew she made the right call. Mokuba was lonely, and just needed the attention of a sibling figure that Seto had been depriving him of.

"Goodnight, Kaede!" He said, eyes brightening, "see you in the morning!" he grinned, walking into his room with a lot more spring in his step. Kaede stood there long after he closed the door and she could hear the blankets of the bed rustle as Mokuba got into bed.

Poor kid.

Suppressing her own tiredness, she went into her room next door to quickly change into a pair of pajama pants and a hoodie, before grabbing her phone and a blanket and heading back out. Down the corridor, to the left, right at the end of the hallway was a large set of double doors that led to Kaiba's bedroom, which Mokuba had shown her on the grand tour, warning her that Kaiba didn't like anyone, even him, in his room.

Frustration in her eyes, she stomped off towards his room, crossing her legs and planting herself right in front of the doors, facing out to the rest of the floor, glaring at all the empty space she saw as she settled herself in.

Bossman was not allowed the peace of going to bed without an earful from a cranky and very opinionated employee of his.

;

"What in the world do you think you're doing?" a harsh voice spoke suddenly, startling Kaede out of her slumber.

Deep voices. Talking while she slept. She reached for her baseball b- She was on the floor, there was no bed to reach beside. They were under attack.

She jumped to her feet with a yell, assuming a hasty fighting stance as she swung at air, Kaiba stepping back harmlessly from her hit, eyebrow raised, looking not at all pleased by the sight of her.

It took a minute of him glaring at her with his arms crossed over his chest while she oggled at him with her fists held weakly in front of her before she got a handle on the situation.

She then snapped to attention, glaring right back with all she could muster, hands on her hips, looming over him as best as she could.

The effect was somehow lessened by the bunny pattern on her pajama pants, and the fact that Kaiba was nearly a good foot taller than her. That didn't halt Kaede's efforts though.

"Listen to me, _young man_. We need to have a talk about your behaviour right now. You're in for the lecture of a lifetime," Kaede scolded. The glare he tried to incinerate her with right then would have probably killed a lesser person. But this was Kaede, and she was pissed.

"Erizawa, I don't know what you think you're doing, but get back to your room and stop acting like a moron," Kaiba growled, moving to push her out of the way and get to his room.

She moved quicker though, and jumped back, putting her arms out to block the door.

"No, I was serious. We need to talk, bossman, and you aren't getting a second of peaceful rest until we do," Kaede countered in a threatening voice. Kaiba's eyes flashed, and he moved in, grabbing her arm forcefully.

 _'He's really fast!'_ Kaede thought quickly, but that didn't stop her from grabbing the hand that grabbed her, and twisting it in a way that forced him to release her, making Kaiba's eyes grow even stormier.

"Listen, Kaiba," she spat, throwing away his hand. "We need to talk about how you're neglecting Mokuba, and how you need to be a better brother to him!" she fired at him, raising her voice. Kaiba's eyes widened in anger at her.

"How dare you try to lecture me about my family relationships in my own home. Mokuba is definitely not neglected, and our relationship is none of your business!" he said with a deepening scowl. Kaede's eyes darkened as well, as she clenched her fists at her side. Apparently, it was going to take more work than she thought to get through that fat head of his.

She hissed, glowering as much as she could at the taller man, "It is my business, rich boy, because Mokuba's well-being is _my_ responsibility now! And let me tell you - he's not well! He's been all alone in this big empty mansion, while you've been at work, focusing on all the wrong things! He's just a kid, he deserves much better treatment from you!" she yelled up at him, making him bare his teeth a little.

"You're out of line, Erizawa! I'm working to make the best life for him as I can - just like I always have! Just because your puny brain can't understand that doesn't mean-"

Footsteps.

Before Kaede could react, Kaiba pushed open the door behind her, and shoved her in, turning around just in time to -

"Hey bro, is everything okay?" a tired voice came from down the hallway. Mokuba sleepily rubbed at his eyes as he approached his older brother.

"Everything's fine, Mokuba, I was just getting back and going to bed," Kaiba said curtly. Mokuba stopped and took a quick glance around.

"Are you sure? I thought I heard shouting…"

Kaiba scowled, though Mokuba couldn't see it from down the dark hallway, "it must have been your imagination. Everything is fine here, go back to bed and sleep, it's late. Goodnight," he said shortly, striding into the room, and shutting the door. Mokuba shrugged, shuffling back to bed. Maybe the yelling was just part of his dream…

A very furious Kaiba turned to face an equally furious Erizawa, standing just inside the door of his room, never taking her eyes off him.

"Look what you've done, you fool. You can't just stomp around in here and start waking everyone up in the middle of the night," Kaiba hissed quietly at the girl. Kaede just kept glaring, and replied, teeth clenched together, angry as ever, but with a quieter voice now.

"Mokuba needs you. He misses you. He's lonely. You can't leave him alone all the time like this. You're his brother, his only family," she said, voice nearly as icy as Kaiba's glare. He remained silent as he regarded Kaede in her ridiculous pajamas (with matching slippers), as she continued scolding him through her teeth.

"Today, he made sure we were home in time to meet you for dinner, just in case you came back on time, but judging by what he told me, you never do. Day after day, you're letting him down, and you don't have the slightest clue. He idolizes you, and thinks the world of you, though for the life of me, I can't figure out why," she growled at him. Kaiba said nothing, just held his terrifyingly strong glare on her, waiting for her to cave.

She didn't though.

"You need to make more time for him. You've done enough work, money bags, maybe now it's time to focus on the things that are actually important in life. Family. Your loved ones. Your little brother, the only one who's stuck by you through everything you've done, and the only one on the planet left who doesn't think you're a gigantic prick," she said again, not letting her glare stop either. It was dark in his room, save for one window that wasn't covered by drapes, so it was hard to make out much more than his angry blue eyes in the moonlight.

They stared at each other for many moments. Kaiba didn't flinch, blink, or show any sign of wavering at all, so finally, Kaede swore under her breath, looking to the side.

"Fine. Whatever, Kaiba. Just do me a favor, and take this from someone who learned this the hard way a very short time ago," she said, walking away from him, placing a hand on the door handle.

She paused with a sigh, heavy with all her frustration and anger towards the CEO at that moment, before glancing at him, fury still tight in her expression, but a strange sadness in her silver eyes, illuminated by the dim light of the room.

"Don't take your family for granted. You don't know what you have until it's gone."

With that, she strode out, closing the door quietly behind her, so as to not wake Mokuba again, heading to her own room at last. This was only her second night in the Kaiba mansion, and already she held more ill feeling towards her boss than she likely did anyone else in the world right now. Muttering under her breath, she went to bed, quickly falling to a restless sleep.

A certain blue eyed Kaiba, however, lay down on his bed, and didn't find any sleep for a long time.

 **A/N: Annnnnnd I'm the worst. Yes, award for worst person goes to me, it is I. (Sorry for the long wait)**

 **I had a really hard time being satisfied with this chapter. I'm still not really, but so it goes. I've been procrastinating on finishing and posting it long enough. Let me know what you think!**

 **-Nyx**


	4. Close

**From Out of Nowhere**

 **Chapter 4: Close**

The next day was much like the last, only Kaede managed to wake herself up before Mokuba could.

He excitedly chattered through breakfast (omelettes today), listing off the things he wanted to do. They went out on her motorcycle again, this time going to the arcade where Mokuba challenged her to nearly all the multiplayer games in the building. They went out for a late lunch afterwards, Mokuba regaling her with stories about Kaiba's old duels, and how he used to be a world champion. Kaede tried her best to be excited about that, for Mokuba's sake. It had only been a few days, but they had become fast, close friends, and she already knew she was very attached to the boy. So she put up with annoying stories about big ugly boss man and his ego.

Once again, Mokuba made sure they were home by dinner time. Kaede was anxious to see if Kaiba would show up after last night, and if he did, she was a little apprehensive of having to face him.

As it would turn out though, Kaiba was once again a no-show. The disappointment was obvious in Mokuba's eyes, but this time they didn't discuss it.

Kaiba got home late that night again, this time around 11, just as Mokuba and Kaede were finishing up a round of Left 4 Dead.

He tiredly walked into the room, briefcase in hand, ignoring Kaede, going towards Mokuba. Mokuba dropped his controller immediately, and jumped up to greet his brother, joy and surprise evident in his face. Kaede discreetly slipped out of the room as soon as Mokuba was distracted to have time with his brother - she doubted Kaiba would want her around at all, and to be honest, she didn't want to listen to his annoying voice either.

It was still very late, but at least he went out of his way to spend some time with Mokuba, which judging by the young boy's reaction, was a rarity. She smugly walked upstairs to the bedrooms, though she wasn't fully satisfied. She would give him 2 more days to show up for dinner and spend a night with Mokuba. Then she'd take matters into her own hands.

For now though, it would have to do. She stayed up until she heard Mokuba enter his bedroom beside hers, yelling a goodnight to his brother, before she let herself settle in for the night as well. Before she could though, there was a soft knock at her door. Surprised, she crept up to it, and opened it just a crack. There stood the infamous icy-eyed CEO himself, in all his mean-looking glory.

Before she could work up a scowl and come up with an appropriate insult, Kaiba thrust a hand at her.

"You should be using this for expenses such as taking Mokuba out like you did today," he said, as she cautiously took the item from his hand and realized it was a Kaiba Corp business credit card. Before she could reply, he pushed another item at her: a set of car keys.

"Navy Porsche in the garage. Stop taking Mokuba out on that death mobile of yours," he said coldly, quickly dropping them into her hands, and turning to quickly stride down the hallway. Completely taken aback, Kaede just watched him go, mouth opening and closing like a fish.

"There's nothing wrong or remotely death-y about my motorcycle," she finally grumbled at his back, carefully closing her door behind her.

;

Kaede glared at the empty chair.

It was her fifth day with Mokuba, her fifth day of settling down to dinner at the table set for four, when there was only two of them. Her fifth day of seeing that familiar disappointment in Mokuba's eyes appear briefly every time they arrived home to a Kaiba-less mansion. And it was a _Saturday_ for goodness' sake. Kaede had enough, and Kaiba's time was up.

"Hey, Mokuba… I have a great idea," she announced to the younger boy before he could sit down and eat. His eyes lit up as he faced her with a smile.

"What's up, Kaede?" He asked, fidgeting with his chair, wanting to sit down and dig into the soup with bread and cheese spread laid out on the table.

Kaede dramatically spread out her arms, gesturing to the meal in front of them, giving Mokuba a mischievous look.

"Remember the other night when I said we'd come up with a plan to get Kaiba to be home for dinner more often?" she asked slyly. Mokuba's face lit up with excitement as he nodded furiously.

"Well… I've been working on it. You know how Kaiba hates me, right?"

"Yep! He thinks you have a big mouth and you're as bad as Joey!" Mokuba replied happily. Kaede deadpanned. She was _not_ as bad as Joey. She'd have to fix that issue with Kaiba another time though.

So instead, she grinned evilly, "We… are going to pay dear old Captain Bossman a visit," she announced devilishly. Mokuba looked at her, eyebrows raised, looking a little concerned.

"Think about it Mokuba! Hear me out… we go visit your brother whenever he's not home for dinner. We'll even bring him food, saying it's for his own good. And then… we'll annoy him so much he'll be too scared to work late, fearing we will come and be noisy and annoying! It's brilliant!"

Mokuba eyed her like she was a crazy person before bursting out into laughter, "Kaede! Seto will kill us! But… it's worth a try. Even just visiting him more would be fun! Let's pack up this dinner and get going!"

She plastered on a fake look of deep concern, "Oh, of course. Poor Kaiba has not been taking care of himself at all. Not to mention my dear older brother is stuck with him as well. That pair is working themselves to death! I'm just so concerned about the both of them," she said, finishing with a downcast look. Mokuba howled in return, already running to the kitchen.

"Yeah, you're right! Let's pack some of this up and take it to them!" he agreed exuberantly. Kaede inwardly cackled as they rushed around for some containers. If Kaiba wouldn't come home for dinner… she would bring the dinner to him. Mokuba would be happy, Kaiba would be pissed, she'd actually get to see Hiroki… everyone goes home happy. Mostly her.

It took just a few minutes for them to pack it all up and haul it to the blue Porsche that Kaiba had given her the keys to a few days prior. Kaede had only used it once, one, because she didn't like listening to bossman, and she and Mokuba took her motorcycle out anyways. Two… she was afraid she'd break it. It was a new, sleek, shiny model that must've cost more than her yearly salary. However, Kaiba had about 3 more fancy cars like it in the garage anyways. Stupid rich boy.

Kaede climbed into the driver's seat and Mokuba took shotgun, his excitement tangible in the air.

"I haven't' gone to visit Seto at his office for weeks! I hope he's hungry!" he said exuberantly, a touch of an evil twinkle in his eye. Kaede gave him a fond, approving smile as they raced out onto the roads of Domino. She really liked this kid.

Even though she had only been to Kaiba Corp a handful of times with her father, everyone in the city knew where it was. She sped off, and they arrived a few minutes later.

The towering business building loomed over them in the light of dusk, and while the normal person might be a little intimidated by the sight of it, Mokuba practically skipped to the doors.

"Hey, Mokuba, slow down, some of us are carrying dinner for four!" Kaede called, lugging 2 plastic bags of soup containers, bread, cheese, and cutlery behind him. He laughed a little at her, but did stop and wait for her to catch up.

It was about 7:30pm, so no one was at the front desk to greet them, and the building seemed mostly empty. Mokuba led the way to the elevator and pushed the button for the very top floor, and up they went. He was bouncing on the heels of his feet, which was enough to make sure Kaede didn't second guess her plan. As long as Mokuba was happy, she was confident Kaiba would play along and not scream at her and fire her. Probably.

Exchanging a devilish grin with Mokuba as they elevator doors dinged open, the made way for the huge double oak doors that ran floor to ceiling. That had rich boy CEO written all over it. They quietly crept to the door in unison… and Mokuba stepped backwards so Kaede could hip check the door and unceremoniously burst in without knocking.

"Kaiba darling, we're here~!" she sang, dancing in with her arms laden with food. Hiroki, who had been sitting on a couch reading a book let his jaw drop and his eyes open like saucers as she entered. Mokuba came in behind her bending over with laughter as Kaiba shot her a dangerous glare.

"Erizawa, what in the world do you think you're doing?!" He demanded harshly, slamming his hands on his desk. Kaede quickly nudged Mokuba forward with her foot, making the boy clear his throat and stop laughing, immediately putting on the puppy dog eyes. _'Just like we planned, Mokuba, that's it…'_

"Seto! We brought you and Hiroki dinner! You've been working such long hours, and it's really good, Anna's squash soup that we like so much… me and Kaede thought you could use the break!" he said, flashing his brother a pleading (and winning) grin. Kaiba's eyes softened slightly, though he did slip Kaede a dirty look. She waggled her fingers at him, smiling innocently.

Hiroki paled in his seat, sinking down. What did he do to have a sister with such little sense of self preservation?

Mokuba made his way forward, plunking himself down in a chair in front of Kaiba's desk, "come on bro, it's been forever since we've had dinner together, and you haven't been taking care of yourself or eating properly! And, poor, poor Hiroki…" Mokuba started, sending his brother's bodyguard a pitiful look, "he's probably starving too. Aren't you Hiroki?"

Hiroki gaped at Mokuba, speechless, while Kaiba raised a slender eyebrow at him. This was the sort of behaviour he expected from Kaede, but not-

He glanced over at her, to find she had placed her bags down and was doubling over with silent laughter. It was pretty clear who the mastermind behind this scheme was.

Mokuba turned his pleading eyes back to Kaiba after Hiroki failed to do much more than sputter a little bit. "Please, bro? We brought all this food…"

Kaiba let out a lengthy sigh, closing his eyes, internally swearing, and shut his laptop closed in front of him, "Very well."

Mokuba excitedly laid out a spread for him and Kaiba on his brother's desk, while Kaede shuffled a container of soup and some bread over to her brother on the couch, where they sat and conversed quietly, while Mokuba loudly regaled Kaiba of the stories of the past few days with Kaede.

"He's going to kill you, you know," Hiroki grumbled at her, taking a spoonful of soup. Kaede's eyes flashed as she shrugged, following suit, stealing a glance at the Kaiba brothers. Mokuba was glowing like she hadn't seen him do before, and Kaiba… well he wasn't even frowning. In fact, as he watched his brother talk, Kaede could swear there was nearly a ghost of a smile dancing at the corners of his mouth.

She turned back to her own brother with a knowing grin, "He can try. He makes some mean faces, but I don't think he minds… that much. Besides, it's what Mokuba wanted," she said, shrugging again. Hiroki sighed, shaking his head at his much more care-free sibling.

"Seriously, you don't want to push his buttons too much, Kaede. I don't know what you did a few days ago, but he's already grumbled angrily about you under his breath a few times. For most people here, that means they've already been fired," Hiroki whispered seriously. Kaede's face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Really? Wow, I really got under his skin then. And he didn't fire me?!" she put her hands to her mouth in glee, "He _likes_ me. Oh my gosh. I've saved his brother's life and now I'm too valuable. Oh my gosh, endless possibilities."

Hiroki deadpanned, giving his sister a concerned look. This could only mean trouble. He had to change the topic before she got any further in her scheming.

"How's it been with Mokuba? It feels like I've been working for Mr. Kaiba forever, but it's only been a few days. I mostly get to do my own work on my laptop or read, so it's not hard though," Hiroki started, snapping Kaede out of her thoughts.

They ended up staying for upwards of an hour before Kaiba finally demanded they leave so he could finish his work, then more softly assuring Mokuba he wouldn't be much longer.

Mokuba and Kaede collected everything to bring back to the mansion, but after Mokuba bade his brother goodbye, before they could leave, Kaiba's voice stopped them.

"Kaede. I will need to speak to you when I return tonight," he stated (not asked). Kaede was ready to fire back a retort, but paused.

He called her Kaede.

She threw a look over her shoulder to present him with a knowing smile, only to be met by a cold stare.

Okay, maybe that wasn't meant to be as friendly as she took it. She grumbled, turning back around, and ushered Mokuba out of the Kaiba Corp office to return to Kaiba's loaned Porsche.

;

It was just past 9 when they got home. Kaede and Mokuba immediately went to the kitchen to look for some dessert, celebrating jovially when they saw that one of the maids had made Mokuba's favorite: chocolate cake with vanilla frosting. Cutting themselves some very generous slices, they went to go play video games, with Street Fighter being the entertainment of choice for the evening.

Kaede tried to stay cool for Mokuba, but her mind was silently chanting out, 'DOOM DOOM DOOM DOOM DOOM DOOM,' to her. Maybe Hiroki was right and she was pushing Kaiba's buttons too much. The guy did work hard, and have a tough past, and stuff…

But it was just so hard to cut him a break. Now Kaede was dreading seeing him when he got back.

Unfortunately, true to his word to Mokuba, Kaiba was not far behind them, and he was home less than an hour after they were. Hiroki approached the gaming room, hands behind his back, straight backed and serious faced. He entered the room and looked at the wall as he spoke in his professional voice, "Kaede, Mr. Kaiba requests your audience in his office. In the meantime, I will be here to stay with his younger brother."

Mokuba and Kaede exchanged a look, then both of them rolled their eyes.

"Loosen up bro, I'm going. Hey, tap in and play for me while I'm gone, don't let Mokie crush you too badly," she said, carelessly tossing him the controller. She gave a silent goodbye salute and a wink to Mokuba before leaving the room.

Mokuba. Mokuba wouldn't stand for her getting fired! He was her job security. A little more confident, and smirking now, she threw her hands behind her head, and let herself into Kaiba's office without knocking.

He was already sitting there, looking at her with his fingers crossed in front of his face. Like he knew she was just going to let herself in. She scowled at the thought of him already being able to predict her moves, she would just have to becoming so wildly Unpredictable that he wouldn't have a hope of-

"Are you going to sit, or are you going to stand there with that stupid expression on your face all night?" Kaiba coldly remarked. Kaede recoiled, putting on a deep scowl, "Why, you-"

"Sit, Erizawa," Kaiba interrupted. Kaede growled at him, striding right up to the 2 chairs facing his desk. She then chose a better course of action and sat right on the desk, turning to face him. The temperature in the room dropped a few degrees, but he didn't move his eyes off her or say anything.

So she put on a cheeky grin and waggled her fingers at him. Kaiba regarded her with his glare for another moment, then lowered his hands with a sigh, leaning back into his chair instead.

"Your visit to the office today was noted. I can't tell if you were trying to be so unpleasant and annoying that I be dragged home or if that's how you are all the time," He stated monotonously. Kaede switched back to growling at him.

"Listen, buster-"

Kaiba put up a hand to silence her. She was ready to jump on his desk and breathe fire at the gesture, but something stopped her.

His eyes. They weren't angry. They were tired. Wary. Worried. Alone. She had never noticed how blue they were, and how they pulled her in like the waves of the ocean. His fire was gone, and so was his frustration.

Looking at him curiously, she got off the desk, and slowly lowered herself into a chair to face him. This wasn't the Kaiba she was used to. For once, she saw him as a man, a man who's life has been threatened, as well as the life of his most important person. A man who worked early to late every single day and was probably several years into sleep deprivation. Somebody who was stressed, and concerned about their safety, and didn't have any friends or family to support him or lend an ear to his problems.

Kaede sat. Maybe she really had been giving him too hard of a time.

"Your visit was noted. I will be here on weekends, and will come home for dinner twice a week. Once a week, you can bring Mokuba to Kaiba Corp and stay for one hour to eat," Kaiba said with a nod at her.

Kaede, completely stunned, just looked at him.

"Tomorrow, you and Hiroki have the day off since I will be here, and will ask someone to stay in the mansion. This will not happen often, so I would suggest you take advantage of it," he finished. Kaede was still looking at him. When he was like this he was nearly… dare she think it, nice.

Another minute passed until Kaiba gave her a bit of a glare as he sat up, "You can go," he said, voice a little sharper now. Kaede nodded silently, slowly standing up. Taking everything in, she frowned as she turned and went to the door. She paused with the door open to look back at him, to see him looking at her too.

This was the man her father died for. She may have been taking a little bit of her anger out by trying to annoy him. She needed to remember her vow: that now, she would protect the Kaiba brothers and carry on her father's legacy. This was a man she was supposed to be protecting, not tormenting.

Maybe she'd cut down on the torment. A little bit. He still needed some torment to keep his life interesting. For now though, she gave him a small, real smile. The first one she ever had.

"Goodnight, Kai-…. Seto," she said quietly before walking out and closing the door behind her.

Kaiba crossed his fingers and looked at the door thoughtfully.

;

For their Sunday off, Kaede and Hiroki decided to spend time together. They went out for lunch, took a walk through Domino park, and then went to a florist for a bouquet of flowers.

They went to visit their father's freshly marked grave.

Sad looks on both of their faces, they stood over the mound of dirt that wasn't even properly settled yet. They stood there silently for a long time, taking their time to grieve. Neither of them had much time to focus on it while they were with the Kaiba brothers, but… now their father's death was right in front of them again.

Hiroki threw a strong arm around Kaede's shoulders, and drew her in tightly, "Hey… I think Dad would be proud of us. For not getting scared and backing down. For taking his place and moving forward. For everything we're doing now, even with the way he went… it's what he would've wanted," he said softly, in his deep rumble of a voice. Kaede let out a quiet sob, and leaned on her older brother.

"I think you're right, bro," she said, letting a few tears fall.

 **A/N: Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter up! I wanted it up 2 days ago... so today, after my last lab, I went home with a mocha and a mission.**

 **As always, all feedback is welcome! I hope you are enjoying the story. Thank you to those who have been following and reviewing, it's greatly appreciated, and makes me want to spend more time on this to get these chapters out to you!**

 **-Nyx**


	5. Who Are You

**From Out of Nowhere**

 **Chapter 5: Who Are You**

Tuesday night was the first time Kaiba and Hiroki came home for dinner. Just as Mokuba and Kaede were sitting down, they arrived just in time to join them. Kaiba sat at the head of the table, beside Mokuba, with Hiroki at his other side. Kaede was on the other side of Mokuba.

Mokuba, joy dancing in his eyes, excitedly chattered to his brother, barely touching his food, as Kaiba listened (probably), eyes on his phone.

Kaede glared at him, though only Hiroki noticed. She loaded her fork up with a pea, her brother sending her warning glances, which she ignored. Pea at the ready. Aimed, and…. "FIRE!" she yelled as she catapulted the pea into the air, where it stopped as it made direct contact with the centre of Kaiba's forehead.

Kaiba looked up from his phone, Hiroki facepalmed, and Mokuba fell quiet, as they all looked at her. She smiled sweetly, batting her eyelashes at Kaiba, "No phones at the family dinner table, darling," she sang to him, making him glower deeply at her. She just winked at him and went back to eating. Mokuba started laughing, and Hiroki made a look that suggested he wanted to smack his face against the table repeatedly.

And so dinner continued, Mokuba talking to Kaiba, with Kaiba actually glancing at him now. Kaede smirked down at her plate, satisfied. She was an expert in vegetable warfare, mission accomp-

A pea hit her in the temple, snapping her out of her thoughts, making her look up. Seto was delicately cutting into his portion of roast chicken, paying her no mind, but Mokuba and Hiroki were staring directly at him, jaws dropped,

Her eyebrow twitched. Did bossman just… throw a pea at her? She considered this for a moment, deciding on a course of action, when she decided to smirk at him, and cross her arms.

"Nice aim. You should know that you've started a war though," she said, puffing out her chest, and turning her nose up at him. He responded by looking up from his meal, and…

Launching another pea, this time getting her right in the middle of her forehead, where she had hit him earlier. She gaped at him, while he coldly regarded her back.

"You're not the only expert in vegetable warfare, Erizawa," he said with a stony voice. Kaede blinked. And blinked again. And went slack-jawed and said nothing, not having anything to grasp at to reply to the _Seto Kaiba who had just hit her with small vegetables._

Mokuba's mirth was apparent, but Kaiba acted as though nothing had happened and Hiroki had completely seized up. Kaede raised a curious eyebrow at the CEO, remaining speechless.

;

The following weeks were much the same. True to his word, Kaiba would come home for dinner twice a week, and once a week, Kaede and Mokuba would go to him. Kaede continued to grow closer and closer to the teenage boy, indulging and looking out for him as though he was her own younger brother.

Her relationship with Kaiba remained… much the same. There were many icy glares and loud outbursts exchanged, but they worked together okay for Mokuba's sake. Hiroki got along with the older Kaiba much easier due to his much more laidback nature, but developed a soft spot for Mokuba as well. It was hard for anyone not to, the kid just had a heart of pure gold.

Everything was going well, and Mokuba was much happier with Kaiba's much more frequent presence, until the deadline for the new duel disk launch started approaching. Kaiba was flaking more and more on his responsibility to go home, and Kaede, as usual, did not have much patience for him.

It was a Friday, 8pm, and Mokuba and Kaede were seated in their usual spots at the dinner table, Mokuba looking down sadly while Kaede scowled impressively at the empty head of the table. He hadn't come home for dinner for _two weeks_ , and his growing absence was greatly felt by both of them as he started to reverse back to his workaholic tendencies he sported when Kaede had first started bodyguarding Mokuba.

"Alright, that's _it_ ," Kaede growled, jumping to her feet and slamming her hands down on the table. Mokuba jumped a little at her outburst, but she paid him no mind, knocking her chair back and gesturing for him to follow.

"We're dragging that pigheaded rich boy brother of yours back home right now! I thought we really got through to him! I'm gonna rip him a new one-"

"Kaede, please, settle down! You know the new duel disk launch is coming out soon, Seto's just working overtime to make sure everything's right before the deadline! I'm sure there's just some kinks to iron out, and in a few weeks, he'll start coming home again…" Mokuba trailed off, biting his lip. Kaede's eyes glowed, and she just kept stalking off towards the garage to retrieve a car. As much as she liked defying bossman and using her motorcycle… the very expensive and zippy sportscar had its perks too.

Despite his protests, Mokuba followed her and climbed into the passenger seat. Kaede turned to face him, trying to reign in some frustration as she got herself settled into the driver's seat.

"Listen, Mokuba… Bossm- Seto is working himself to death. He's only 22, it's not healthy for him. It's not necessary. On top of that, he needs to learn that work isn't everything. There are things that are way more important, like family, and the people you love," she said, sending him a pointed look. "Additionally, he made me a _promise_ , and hell if I'll let him back out of it! Somehow, the company will stay afloat if he freaking only works 12 hours a day instead of 18!"

Huffing her bangs out of her eyes, she started the car, and off they flew onto the streets of Domino.

;

Mokuba trailed behind Kaede as she stormed into the Kaiba corp office. Unlike the ghost town it usually was, there was a flurry of straggling employees running between offices looking panicked. Eyebrow raised, she stomped off towards the elevator and didn't hesitate to go all the way to the top floor and burst into Kaiba's office.

"Kaiba, what are you doing?! You've missed dinner for two weeks now, two!" she demanded, striding in without pause. Hiroki glowered at her, but it was very much outdone by the glare Kaiba gave her.

"Erizawa, some of us are busy running large corporation, and have to have the software part of a large project done _tonight_ so the development team can tweak the hardware. I need these out by the end of next month!" Kaiba shouted back, rising to his feet, clearly more agitated than usual. The usually impeccable CEO looked ruffled, as though he had been pacing around a lot, and running his hands through his hair.

Kaede's mouth narrowed into a thin line, as she crossed her arms, scowling back at him. "Kaiba, you own this company. You can work with whatever damn timeline you want! You're going to put yourself into an early grave if you keep working like this. And besides, you need to pay more attention to what really matters, like your brother, and your health!" So their old argument picked up again. Kaiba's frown matched hers as he retorted.

"I set a deadline for today, Erizawa, and my employees need to meet it! They better meet it, there's still a layer of programming with bugs in it, and no one is going home until it's done!"

Kaede growled back, but tried to reign in her anger a little bit, "We're going home, Kaiba. Now. The car's out front, I can drive us all back and we can still heat dinner up. You've been here since seven this morning. You're supposed to be working on this, not regressing into old patterns. Let's go home. You can deal with it later," she finished, trying to glare a little less. She stared Kaiba down for a few moments before he scoffed, dropping his arms to his side and walking around his desk.

"There's only one more man I'm waiting on anyways. I need to see if he's done yet," he muttered. Mokuba, looking elated that Kaede talked Kaiba down, trailed out after his brother, followed by Kaede and Hiroki, after he spared his sister an incredulous look. They all followed Kaiba into the elevator, and down to the 9th floor, where he strode over to a nervous looking middle-aged man who was agitatedly looking over lines of code.

"Satsuki! Why isn't this done yet?!" Kaiba demanded, looming over the man. Satsuki jumped, having been so involved in his work, he didn't head them enter. The man looked tired and bogged down, with bags until his eyes showing his tiredness.

"M-Mr. Kaiba sir! I'm sorry, I'm working on debugging it right now, it should only be a little longe-"

"I gave you a deadline, and you missed it! I want this program done now, the rest of the development team is waiting on it!" Kaiba demanded sharply. Kaede glared at him, striding forward past Mokuba to interfere.

"Hey, Kaiba, back off, it's not a big deal!" She said, glaring at the CEO. He scowled at her.

"Stay out of this Erizawa, it's none of your business! I will not have incompetent employees who can't write simple program layers-"

"Oh, bug off, Kaiba, give the guy some room to breathe, can't you see he's being worked to death? You need to come home with us anyways, I'm sure this is something that can be fixed on Monday," she huffed back, crossing her arms.

Hiroki and Mokuba exchanged a look behind the two of them, sighing in unison. There was no stopping Kaede and Kaiba once they got into it, and Kaede seemed to lack the ability to exchange any words with the CEO without starting to yell.

Kaiba, losing his temper, finally cracked, and growled at his employee, "Fine, leave! I'll have to take care of this myself, it seems like no one else can do anything right around here!" he yelled, making the man squeak and scurry out of his chair, quickly grabbing his bag and running out of the door without looking back.

Kaede swirled on Kaiba, eyes flaring, "You're such a jerk, you scared that poor man half to death! He was already working overtime trying to meet your insane demands, you need to cut him some slack! The errors look like it's something minor interrupting the program anyways. It's probably just some easily fixable syntax or-"

"Oh, and I suppose you're some sort of expert on software now? What do you know Erizawa, I hire you to watch Mokuba, not analyze how I run my business."

Kaede gave Kaiba a glare that could rival even one of his own icy gazes. Wordlessly, she sat at the man's computer, and started scanning through the lines of code that were there.

"And just what do you think you're doing. That is confidential Kaiba Corp work still in the development process-"

Kaede loudly scoffed, glowering quickly at him, and then back at the screen, her fingers rapidly moving across the keyboard to make a few quick changes. Before Kaiba could protest again, she clicked, saved, and ran it.

No more error screens popped up as the run was a success. She spun in her chair to face the CEO, who, for the first time since she met him, seemed a little speechless. Hiroki looked amused behind him, and Mokuba was looking wide eyed between her, and the back of his brother.

Arms crossed over her chest, she glowered at Kaiba.

"See? Syntax. He was so tired he was just glossing over a few mistakes. And yes, I am some sort of expert. You should know your employees, rich boy. That man was too overworked to be able to perform such detail-oriented work, I'm a software engineer, and you're a giant jerkwad. Let's go."

She shortly walked past Kaiba, making sure to bump into him, leading their troupe out of the building. Mokuba snickered, but followed after her, not saying anything, and Hiroki sent the stony eyed Kaiba an apologetic look.

;

After a very awkward dinner, Kaede found herself in the living room with Mokuba, as he tried once again to explain duel monsters to her. No matter how many times they did this, Kaede just couldn't make out the boy's ramblings, and the game seem overcomplicated and lame to her. She did try her best in to duel him because it made Mokuba happy though.

"Hey, Kaede… how'd you do that earlier, with the program? You stunned Seto pretty good," Mokuba asked, good-naturedly. Kaede sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck, looking away.

"Heh… I guess I probably stepped over a boundary or something… b-but, Kaiba deserved it! I finished my software engineering degree from Domino University back in April. Kaiba Corp uses the industry standard, and that was clearly a blend of C++ and Java. It really was just a few syntax errors… it can get confusing when you switch between languages," she explained with a shrug.

Mokuba's eyes lit up at her though. "Wow, that's so cool, Kaede! You could totally be an engineer for Seto, and work on the gaming software!" Kaede gave the boy a blank stare.

"Mokuba… your brother and I don't really get along," she said, squinting at her cards. "Besides, software engineering was just my degree, I'm really more interested in security stuff. Now maybe network security, that's something I could do…" she trailed off thoughtfully for a moment before selecting a card and placing it down on the table between them.

"Alright, I play my… trap card in… defense position!"

Mokuba groaned.

;

The next week, Kaiba and Hiroki started coming back for the occasional dinner again. Mokuba was thrilled, and while Kaede tried not to be too smug, judging by the looks her boss frequently gave her, she wasn't doing a very good job.

In the middle of the week, Kaede and Mokuba loaded onto her motorcycle for a change, and brought dinner to Kaiba Corp, like they had started doing every Wednesday. They got there, and separated as usual, Mokuba sitting with Kaiba at his desk, chattering away, while Kaede and Hiroki made use of the couch in the office.

Everything was going as per usual, until Mokuba started cleaning up their dinner, and Kaiba faced the Erizawa siblings.

"Hiroki, you'll bring Mokuba back home now. Kaede, you'll be staying here with me until I'm finished," he said shortly, his cold eyes nearly challenging her to say otherwise. Kaede just said nothing, instead, dropping her fork on the ground, mouth ajar, Hiroki doing something similar, with a little more dignity. Their eyes spoke the same story: Did Kaiba just ask to spend actual time alone with Kaede?

Mokuba even shot his older brother an unsure look, but didn't say anything. Instead, he timidly walked to Hiroki, bringing the containers their dinner was in.

"Well… alright, bro, don't work too late, okay? And don't kill each other!" Mokuba said cheerfully.

Kaede was still stunned in her spot when an anxious Hiroki ushered Mokuba out of the office. She glanced at Kaiba, who didn't react, and instead opened his laptop back up and began plugging away.

Without looking up, he spoke as he continued typing, "Despite your… brash nature, you've proven to be a reliable companion for Mokuba, and upon going back over your resume, are highly qualified for other duties as well," he started, not making eye contact. Kaede cautiously stood up, and walked to his desk, seating herself in the chair across from him that Mokuba usually occupied.

"I'm working on a… personal project. I need you to error check it," he said shortly. Kaede's jaw dropped. Was he… asking her for help? Acknowledging her qualifications?!

"I… whu… Kaiba, I'm not one of your programmers, there are other people to do that…" she started, a little unsurely. He sent her a harsh look, stopped typing, and turned the computer towards her.

"You made quick work of a roadblock in a program that cost hours on Friday. The incompetents working on the ninth floor are busy enough, and apparently can't catch a few missing semicolons," he finished with an icy look. Kaede just gaped at him before carefully pulling the laptop closer to herself, squinting at the code. It was a few thousand lines; short, by coding standards, but she still heaved a huge sigh, and started running through it while Kaiba instead pulled out his phone and started typing away on that.

They sat in silence for over an hour, save for Kaede's occasional muttering and typing, and Kaiba getting up a few times to stride out of the office and come back.

Finally, Kaede, ran the compiler, no errors coming up, and pushed it back towards Kaiba, who took it to glance over her changes.

"Fixed. I also split one of your classes into two to optimize performance because you were often only calling on one process within it. And a bit of etiquette changes, I didn't take you to be a sloppy programmer," she said teasingly, giving him a look of superiority. Kaiba just glowered at her, ran the compiler once for himself, and shut the laptop, ignoring her.

"Let's go," he said, already standing up. Kaede rolled her eyes, and trailed behind him.

When they got to the ground floor and headed for the cars, Kaede couldn't stop the mischievous grin that cracked over her face. They went for the parking garage, and there it was: her motorcycle.

Of course Hiroki had taken the car he usually used to drive Kaiba. And all that was left was her motorcycle. She gave Kaiba a manic smile over her shoulder, to see him looking very shocked. Maybe even a little scared.

"Alright, Bossman, let's head home~! Here's your helmet-" she brightly announced, shoving it into his hands before he could protest and shrugging on her leather jacket.

"Just hold on to me tight the whole way, and you'll probably be fine!" she cackled, swinging her leg over the seat. For the second time, Kaede saw Kaiba left speechless. And for the first time, he… sputtered.

"W-B-Are you insane? I'm not getting on your deathmobile with you!" he retorted angrily. Kaede just pulled on her own helmet and gave him that same 'I'm up to no good' grin.

"Oh? Are you scared, Setooooo? That's a shame. I guess you could always call another driver. I do have to get my motorcycle home though. And shoot, me and Mokuba were going to see Joey and the others tomorrow too. What will they do when I tell them the big bad Kaibaman wouldn't get on a motorcycle? Oh my…" she trailed off, putting on a mock thoughtful expression. Kaiba blanched, and it took all she had in her to not giggle gleefully at his discomfort.

With great distaste on his face, he shoved the helmet on without a word, and swung himself on behind her, trying very hard not to touch her, as if she was poisoned, or smelled particularly bad.

Kaede snorted and rolled her eyes, revving her engine. And then… she gunned it out of the underground. Kaiba let out an involuntary grunt, which she supposed was his version of a girlish scream, before he scooched right up against her back, arms wrapped firmly around her mid section.

She raced off away from Kaiba Corp, adding much more speed than usual for Kaiba's benefit, trying hard not to laugh at him as she heard his breathing pick up. She could feel his hold around her tighten, her back against his broad chest, his strong grip-

Kaede's eyes widened, taking a deep breath of chilly night air, shaking her head a little. What was that?! She focused much more intently on the road, her driving, and terrifying Kaiba as much as she could as they went the rest of the way home.

 **A/N: Yeah... I'm sorry. I'm just bad at keeping up with stories. Happy New Year. I haven't abandoned this, I'll just go really long intervals with no inspiration... anyways, hope everyone had a happy holiday, here's your late present, an update! I promise this story's back in the works and I'll be working on it without a 2-3 month delay between chapters. All feedback is welcome! Hope you enjoyed.**


	6. Gone

**From Out Of Nowhere**

 **Chapter 6: Gone**

 **I only own this poorly thrown together plot, I'm so sorry.**

The next morning, Kaede was up and about unusually early, much before Mokuba. It may have even been before Seto left for work. She quietly crept downstairs to the kitchen, deciding to celebrate her early rise and restful sleep with a fancy coffee from Seto's ridiculously expensive and over the top machine.

A peaceful smile on her face, she reached for the warm mug as it was done. Just as she wrapped her hands around it though, she jumped slightly as hands appeared on her waist from behind, delicately wrapping themselves around her middle, drawing her backwards into what she could only guess was a tall man who had a set of abs on him - A soft kiss hit her in the cheek, causing her to stop. Why in the world - who, what?

As a chin carefully rested on her shoulder, she slowly turned her head slightly to the side to see who had approached her like this. She saw the thick brown hair, then playful blue eyes. Finally, she saw the very strange and uncharacteristic lazy grin on Seto's face.

A piercing scream rang out through the mansion.

"WHAT THE FUUUUUCK?!" Kaede screeched, shooting up in bed, protectively dragging her blanket up with her, in case she needed to be shielded from any creepy blue-eyed CEOs. Hair messy, panting, and eyes wild, she took a few seconds to calm down, before she realized it was just a dream. A horrible, terrifying dream.

Shaking her head and repressing a shudder, she hesitantly looked at the clock on her nightstand. It was only six in the morning, but, she was unlikely to go back to sleep after _that_ , Kaede thought dismally, ruffling a hand through her hair. Muttering curses under her breath, she fumbled out of bed and grabbed her laptop, intent on shuffling downstairs to drink coffee and spend time on the internet before Mokuba got up and dragged her to Yugi's.

Kaiba's stupid coffee machine from her dream was in the kitchen of course, though now it felt like it was laughing at her. She glared at it, and shot a few apprehensive glances over her shoulder as she moved through the kitchen.

She nearly burst out laughing as she reached into one of the cabinets for a mug. It was one she must've not noticed before, because it was something she wouldn't forget. It was a ceramic Blue Eyes White Dragon mug, and the features and detail on it were quite striking. The tail came out of the mug, and curved to form the handle, adding an extra dimension to it. It was just so… dorky. It had to be Kaiba's. She cackled with mirth, and set the machine to make a coffee for her.

Finally settling down from her disturbing nightmare, Kaede reached out a hand for her coffee-

"That's my mug," a steely tone came from behind her, making her jump and curse, whirling around to face Kaiba. He was glaring down at her, arms crossed firmly in front of his chest.

After the horrors of the early morning, his scowl was nearly a welcome sight.

She cocked an eyebrow at him, slowly reaching behind her and grabbing the Blue Eyes White mug by the tail. Not breaking eye contact, she raised it to her mouth and took a _sip_. Kaiba's mouth turned downwards into a frown. She took another sip, and gave him a shit eating grin, "This is yours? Sorry, I couldn't tell."

If Kaede were a weaker person, she's be a dead one. She withstood the Kaiba Glare (tm) and continued smiling devilishly at him. Kaiba was not amused.

In a flash, his hand whipped out, and he grabbed the mug from her, pulling it away before she could even register and fight back, and started chugging the coffee down, turning and walking away from his shocked and irritated employee.

"Thanks for getting my morning coffee ready for me, Erizawa. Maybe we'll add this to your permanent list of duties," he drawled.

Kaede grumbled, discreetly shooting him the finger as she made another coffee in a different mug. She would've usually attacked him, trying to steal the mug back, but she had standards for her health and didn't want his cooties.

Kaede shot the dirtiest look she could muster at his back, grumbling as she put on another coffee for herself. Kaiba turned back to give her an appraising once over, lip curling in distaste.

"Since you're up so early for once, you might as well make yourself useful. Go make yourself presentable, you'll be coming to Kaiba Corp with me today," Kaiba demanded (not asked). Kaede glowered at him, trying to decide what limits she could push with him, and tried not to twist in disgust at the thought of having to be around him all day with Mokuba to shield her.

She gave him a flat stare, "I'd rather die," she deadpanned.

;

Half an hour later, Kaede found herself in the passenger seat of a very expensive sports car, semi-presentable, and sulking into the mug of coffee she had refused to let Kaiba take away from her. For some reason, Kaiba had insisted on driving, to Kaede's dismay. He drove more dangerously and crazier than she had when she was trying to terrify him on her motorcycle the night before. Apparently, along with being an arrogant butt face, he was also a hypocrite.

Kaede had tried to fight him about going to the office, but, with her brain operating on such limited capacity so early in the morning, she lost, was forced to take a quick shower and dress, and bid goodbye to a very concerned looking Hiroki, who was to stay with Mokuba while she was with Kaiba.

The day went as you might expect. After about an hour of being in the same office as Kaiba's ego, Kaede had thrown her hands up and stormed out. She found a suitable closet to barricade herself, and did something she had never foreseen herself doing.

She squatted down, hesitated, then took her phone out of her back pocket, and… opened the texting app, and…

Sent a plea for help to Mokuba.

"SOS. Your insane brother made me go to work with him instead of Hiroki. Not sure who's going to kill who first. Please hurry. Bring coffee and possibly something to threaten Kaiba's life with.

;

A tired but amused Mokuba read the text message that had woken him up before jumping into action. Both Kaede and his brother would need him.

He dressed quickly, and went downstairs to find Hiroki in the kitchen, reading the paper and waiting for him, greeting him with a smile.

"Good morning, Mokuba, you're up earlier than I thought. Mr. Kaiba took Kaede with him to work today, so I'll be here with you instead. Would you like something to eat?"

Mokuba held up a hand to stop him, "No time, Hiroki. My brother has made a terrible mistake. We need to go now before someone gets hurt. We can grab breakfast on the way," he said in a cheerful voice, gesturing Hiroki to come with him. Hiroki blanched and hurried to his feet.

They left right away, though to Mokuba's insistence, before they went into Kaiba Corp, they parked and walked to the crowded café in a building beside it to get the coffee Kaede requested, along with some breakfast, and something for Seto too.

"I'll go grab everything, you can wait outside if you'd like," Hiroki kindly offered, as there was little standing room left with all the workers trying to get their morning caffeine fix. Mokuba cheerfully agreed, and sat himself on a bench outside, watching as cars rushed by on the streets and people bustled on the sidewalk, walking hurriedly into office buildings.

He then saw someone familiar running towards him. Grinning, he got to his feet to wave to her.

"Hey Tea!" he called as she passed. She kept running, on her morning jog, earbuds in her ears, unable to hear him. Mokuba turned after her to call again, when an arm wrapped around him from behind.

In an instant, he was shielded from the rest of the sidewalk by a large group of casually dressed men, who quickly shuffled him into a discrete car that had been idling on the side of the road. Before he could even yell, he was shoved in, the door shut, and he was surrounded by strangers as the car started moving.

"Hey! What's the big idea-" a large hand clamped down over his mouth, followed by a blindfold, and something tied around his mouth to keep him from talking.

"Finally, we caught him without someone watching him. This brat has been a nuisance to grab. Someone get G on the line," a deep voice from somewhere in the car rumbled. A dial tone came from what must have been a Bluetooth speaker in the car.

"News?" a scratchy voice came through it, though it was distorted and hard to hear, as though they were in a noisy atmosphere.

"We got the younger Kaiba, finally caught him on his own," Mokuba heard the man who pulled him into the car and was keeping a strong arm on him said smugly.

"Gah, why couldn't you get Kaiba himself? That would make this so much easier…" the voice over the Bluetooth grumbled, annoyed.

"It'll have to do, it's been weeks without anyone else making progress," the first voice bit back harshly.

"Fine. We'll need to figure out how to use him then to get this done. Head for spot B. He's getting impatient," is what came back over the speaker.

Mokuba gulped, unable to reach for his cellphone with the iron grip the man had on him. He tried to stay calm, remaining silent and still as he listened, and got as much information as he could. Seto would save him.

;

Tea had stopped in her run, seeing a swarm of strange movement from the corner of her eye. She popped an earbud out and turned just in time to see a group of men bundle together and slide into the car she had just passed. She was about to turn back and start running again when she caught a glimpse of a messy mane of raven hair between two of the men - Mokuba?!

She called out, just as they shut the door and raced off. Something was definitely wrong. Wasn't Kaede supposed to be with him? A sinking feeling in her gut, she turned around and sprinted the way she came, heading for Kaiba corp. She had to go tell Kaiba.

;

After getting word back from Mokuba that he and Hiroki were on the way, Kaede felt much less tense, her murderous thoughts towards Kaiba slipping away…

She decided she could afford to step outside for some air to wake up and clear her head before she had to go back to editing Kaiba's code for him. Stretching, she lazily took the elevator down, entering the lobby and ready to head out, when a sweaty and disheveled woman burst through the doors, making people turn and stare, as she gasped, and ran to Kaede.

"Kaede! I think I just saw a group of thugs grab Mokuba and drive off!" She panted out, eyes frantic. Kaede's stomach dropped, and she quickly became all business. Shouldn't Hiroki be with him? Speaking of Hiroki, they should have arrived by about then…

Her eyes narrowed, and she slipped out her phone, already striding towards the parking garage.

"What did the vehicle look like? How long ago?! Which way did they go?" She asked quickly, Tea following her as she grabbed the keys to Kaiba's car without even looking for the valet.

"They headed north up the street in a grey Toyota! I don't know where they were headed! It just happened a minute ago by that coffee place, I came as fast as I could!" Tea said, panicked. Kaede nodded, breaking out into a jog to the car,

"I'll go! Go upstairs and tell Kaiba, now!" she shouted, throwing herself into the driver's seat. Without a glance back at Tea to see if she heard, she raced out of the parking spot, and out onto the street, heading north, using one hand to call up Hiroki on her speaker phone.

"Hello? Kaede, are you guys okay? I just grabbed some coffees, we'll be up in just a-"

"Someone took Mokuba. Grey Toyota, headed north, eyewitness account. I'm going now." She barked out. She then hung up, and hit speed dial for the Kaiba Corp security headquarters.

"Satoshi here," the elderly man's voice rumbled out.

Kaede was squinting, eyes focused on the road and side streets for anything that even resembled a grey Toyota as she spoke back.

"It's Kaede. Someone got Mokuba. Grey Toyota. Right by Kaiba corp. Headed towards downtown Domino. Contact police and send out everyone. Eyewitness is at Kaiba Corp, instructed to report to Kaiba." she spoke precisely, even though her heart was beating in her chest. This was her fault. She couldn't handle Kaiba and had called out Mokuba to come to the office. If only he had stayed at home…

She had to set it right, and fast. Who the hell kidnaps someone in broad daylight anyways?

She kept her eyes peeled and drove all the way downtown, turning down side streets, everything, looking for the stupid car that took Mokuba.

After a few minutes, the gates opened, and the calls started flowing in.

First, it was Mai.

"Is everything alright, hon? We're all getting these crazy phone calls from Tea. Do you need our help?"

"Don't know Mai, looks like someone took him while my brother was with him. We've got all eyes headed out, but it'd be nice to have some people on foot looking for him too. Downtown's big, and I haven't even seen a car that looks like the one Tea described," Kaede muttered back, whole body rigid with agitation.

"We're on it, Kae, Tea already woke everyone up I think. Just let me handle it, we'll call if we see anything."

"Thanks, Mai."

Kaiba was next. What scared Kaede most was that he didn't yell. He just spoke with impeccable, stony monotone that nearly made her shiver.

"Erizawa, where are you?"

"About 10 minutes away from Kaiba Corp in the downtown core."

"Anything?"

"Not yet. I've called everyone though and I took off the moment I heard."

"In my car."

"Yes."

"Call me if you find anything."

"You got it, Seto. I'll find him in no time."

;

After about an hour, Kaede was in significant distress. She had found 3 grey Toyotas and tailed them to their owners to have harassed a very scared teenager, a very annoyed shop owner, and an elderly couple. She was no closer to finding anything, and would have lost the close chase she had on them in the beginning. For all she knew, they were already driving him out of Domino. The only thing that kept her looking around downtown was her instinct telling her it didn't make sense for them to take him far away.

The phone rang, and she answered before the first ring could finish.

"Kaede," she opened tensely.

"Kaede! It's Yugi! Me and Tea found an empty car that she says looks exactly like the one she saw earlier parked on the street outside of a restaurant."

Kaede could hear her heart pounding in her ears. She pushed the phone up against her ear, unnecessarily squishing it against her face.

"Where are you?! Don't go in without me."

"It looks like a closed Italian place! The car is parked in an unmarked alley street, but the entrance to the restaurant is right on First Street!"

Kaede was right near there. She could already feel the adrenaline pounding through her as she made a very illegal U-turn and sped off.

;

Dai burst into the room where the big guy who had originally grabbed him, Jack, was still keeping him, looking agitated.

"They found us. Fuck if I know how, but they did, the police are on their way, I just heard it on the radio that someone tipped them off to the restaurant," he swore harshly, throwing on his beat-up leather jacket. Mokuba felt his eyes widen hopefully under his blindfold.

Jack swore back, harshly pulling Mokuba to his feet. "Already? G and Ichirou haven't even got here yet."

Dai growled back, "I know. And I'm gonna be the one chewed out for his. You and I are grabbing him and leaving quietly. Kane and Ken are gonna walk out in a bit, cause a distraction if we need one. Let's go, now."

Mokuba felt some panic return. His brother was on his way, and he had to make sure they stayed long enough for him to find them.

So Mokuba let his body go limp and heavy, and dropped to the floor, shocking the Jack guy.

"I'm not going anywhere with you creeps! When my brother gets his hands on you, you're going to wish you were never born!" He yelled at them defiantly, not even sure where to face. He heard a growl of anger before he was yanked painfully back to his feet by a set of hands that would surely leave a mark.

"You're not really in a position to make threats, you little punk," Dai hissed at him.

Nonetheless, Mokuba did his best to slow them down. He only kept it up for about a minute though, until one of them had enough of his antics, and smacked him across the head, making him cry out in pain.

"Listen, kid. You're going to start going back to being a good little boy, or there's more where that came from. You don't need fingers to be an effective bargaining tool," Dai threatened him, making him evaluate how much he wanted to anger these guys. He had to stall. Someone was on the way.

He just hoped someone would get to him soon.

;

It took Kaede about 3 minutes to see Yugi and Tea waving her down, so she quickly skidded to a stop and carelessly pulled the car worth more than her year's paycheck onto the curb and jumped out.

"Kaede! Quickly, we'll show you the car! We already called Kaiba and told him where we are," Tea exclaimed, running forward with a worried look on her face. Kaede's face darkened, and she just nodded at the two of them before they started running around the corner to take her to the car.

Kaede nearly screamed with anger at what she saw. The grey Toyota was there alright, with a shady looking man in the driver's seat impatiently gesturing at a larger man who was hauling a small boy with a blindfold, a gag, and a shiny new bruise and cut on his face.

Kaede saw red and sprinted forwards for the large man.

"You're dead!" she spat, dashing forward and launching a powerful kick at the grip he was keeping on Mokuba, making him let go. The man in the car's eyes went wide, and he gunned it, pulling out of the alley, and leaving his friend to deal with a very angry babysitter. Yugi stayed to try and help Kaede while Tea yelled out, and started chasing after the car.

"Yugi, get to Mokuba!" she ordered, swinging a punch that the man easily dodged. She growled at him, as he sized her up with beady little eyes. He went in to grab her arm - but she danced backwards, and shot a leg towards his shin instead. He hissed with pain, pulling back as she made contact, making him stagger slightly - but not enough, she was much smaller than him.

She feinted with another punch at him like before, launching an uppercut towards his abdomen with her other arm, catching him beneath the rib cage. He wheezed, but still managed to swing a beefy hand back at her and catch her in the mouth just as she was trying to dodge. She swore and tasted iron, but ignored it, turning her whole body, and elbowing him in the side. She was rewarded as he dropped to a knee, but not without him swinging again, and catching her in the spine. She yelped and fell with a grunt, smashing her face against the pavement. As Yugi reached Mokuba, and quickly undid the pieces of cloth on Mokuba's mouth and eyes, she wound up - and leaped up to hit him right between the eyes.

His eyes went dazed, and his mouth opened, but before he could hit back, Kaede quickly swung herself up, only to throw herself at his back to knock him onto his front.

Using her forearm, she grounded his face into the ground as hard as she could, pulled one of his arms around his back, and pinned it there with her knee. She restrained his other arm with hers, and crouched over him, using all her strength to hold him in place. Yugi and Tea had already called the police and Kaiba, so she just needed to keep him there.

The man under her struggled, but Kaede managed to hold her own, blood dribbling down her chin and back throbbing. It only took a minute or two until the sirens arrived, and with the help of a few officers, the man was restrained and handcuffed, despite his cursing and struggles.

Kaede slowly pulled herself to her knees, disoriented with such a jarring halt to the fight, adrenaline still rushing through her. She moved carefully, dizzy. Her face may have taken a worse beating than she thought. She sluggishly ran her tongue over her teeth - all accounted for, but one of her front top ones was loose and sore. As she reached her face to rub her split lip, she realized blood was running down he face as well. She definitely got hit worse than she had noticed at the time. It felt like she had a nosebleed, and had blood running somewhere from near her eye as well, probably from when she hit the ground.

Groaning, she made a move to stand, staggering with her spinning head, but a strong hand grabbed her around the arm to study her.

She looked up into the face of a stony eyes Seto Kaiba, Mokuba already at his side. She hadn't even noticed him arriving. Her eyes moved down to Mokuba and the world quickly slid back into focus and started moving at full speed again.

She dropped back down to her knees, quickly pulling Mokuba's face towards her.

"What did he do to you? He's a dead man. He'll never be able to reproduce when I'm done with him. Where's a doctor?!" She said hurriedly. Mokuba had a large, shiny purple bruise forming on his left cheek, a cut where the skin split right on the cheekbone.

Mokuba laughed nervously, moving her hands from his face.

"It's fine Kaede, really, I'm not hurt. You really showed that guy! There's blood all over your face though!" He exclaimed worriedly. Kaede nearly laughed. Mokuba had been kidnapped, and only rescued a minute ago, and he was already showing concern for her instead of herself. She shook her head, messily wiped her face on the back of her arm, and pulled the boy into a tight hug.

"You're such a loser, Mokie. Must run in the family."

;

 **This isn't what I meant to write. At all. Sometimes these things happen though. A thousand apologies for the wait, but hey, less than 2 months between updates, amazing! This semester is going well so far, but I have been busy with work and exams. Any feedback is welcome and appreciated, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter.**

 **I just wanted to note that this story is** _ **very**_ **poorly outlined, and I continually travel back and make small edits as I spot mistakes or discrepancies, or decide I didn't portray someone properly, etc… But I will make note if I ever change something of significance.**

 **That being said, I'm a heathen and it's 12:30pm, so I have not edited this chapter (yet). I'm so sorry.**

 **Take care, see you next time!**

 **-Nyx**


	7. I Know You Care

**From Out Of Nowhere**

 **Chapter 7: I Know You Care**

Kaiba rolled his eyes and Mokuba giggled a little. Relief within her, Kaede got up to her feet again, this time without Kaiba's sturdy support.

She met his eyes next. They were dark and unreadable, but he did steadily meet her gaze. It felt like they were sharing a moment. They had shared so many of the same emotions in the past few hours, and the morning had been so crazy. She nearly felt closer to Kaiba after the experience, and she felt satisfied and happy having managed to save Mokuba from such a close shave. As her whole body started to relax, and she more acutely felt the pain she was in, she spared a grin for the CEO who was driving her up the wall just a few hours ago.

"You look like you got hit by a truck, Erizawa."

She quickly dropped her smile for the CEO who was always driving her up the wall, always, he was the worst human ever.

"Kaede! Are you alright?" Yugi and Tea approached next, looking worried for their friend. Kaede tried her hand at a reassuring smile, but it just made her bleeding lip hurt more.

"Looks worse than it is, I'm sure. I can probably just fix myself up at home though, it's fine-"

"Actually, I took one look at you and called an ambulance. You'll be letting a paramedic assess that," Kaiba sharply interrupted, glaring at her. Kaede shot him a resentful look, making Mokuba snicker and Tea's eyes widen.

She decided to be the bigger person (only metaphorically), and ignored him, turning instead to Yugi and Tea properly.

"Thanks guys. Especially you, Tea. We would have never got to him in time without you. First, you were the one who noticed him to be taken, and you and Yugi were the ones to find him again," she said sweetly. She felt Kaiba shift uncomfortably behind her.

"… Thanks," he grumbled.

;

The day was a mess after that. The man Kaede had taken down was immediately shoved into a police car and taken to the station for questioning. An ambulance did show up, and paramedics looked at Kaede and Mokuba. Mokuba was cleared and didn't need to see a doctor, but he ended up going to the hospital with his brother anyways to accompany Kaede getting two stitches on her top lip, and another two over her eyebrow, which she also managed to cut open, apparently. She got to leave after being told to take it easy, on account of her mild concussion.

Then there was questioning. Talks with the police, Kaiba calling his lawyer, Hiroki arguing with the commanding officer about what was to be done with the man they caught. It took quite a few hours, and after it all, it was Kaiba who said they were all going back to the mansion, and had Hiroki hunt down the car Kaede had left downtown to drive them.

When they got there, Kaede noticed the telltale signs of security being tightened, but she paid it no attention, Mokuba carefully ushering her into the mansion, and to one of the living rooms as Kaiba disappeared, and Hiroki went to make arrangements for an early dinner, as they had all missed breakfast and lunch with the events of the day.

They ended up doing something very different, and Hiroki ended up sending one of the guards out to get an absurd amount of Chinese takeout. Instead of eating at the elegant dining table, they all stayed in the living room together, Mokuba and Kaede playing Mario Kart together, on a low volume, so as to not disturb Kaiba, who had tucked himself in the corner of one of the couches on his laptop, catching up on the work he had missed during the day, occasionally, turning his screen to Kaede to accept a comment on chunks of code he was looking over.

Hiroki sat by himself to the side in a loveseat, reading a very dull looking book on economics, but he seemed content enough.

Kaede took it all in, filled with relief that everything had worked out, and content that they were all just around each other. Mokuba seemed especially delighted, though she wasn't sure if that was with the situation, or if he was just glad he was no longer kidnapped.

They were all tired out from a long day, and ended up heading upstairs early. She was in her room, brushing her teeth in her bathroom, donning her magnificent bunny pajamas when a knock came at her door.

She poked her head out of the bathroom towards the bedroom door, "Come in!" she said, muffled by her toothbrush, thinking it was just Mokuba challenging her to lose another duel before bed. She went back in to finish off her routine, and was extremely shocked to find not Mokuba, but his much taller older brother sitting at her desk with his arms crossed and eyes closed, no longer wearing his trademark swoopy and imposing Kaiba jacket, but instead just in simple black pants and a black top.

She stood in the doorway, waiting for him to look up. When he didn't, she started to feel apprehension bubble inside her. What had she done to deserve another lecture? Was this about her asking Mokuba to come to the office? Was he going to blame her for what happened like she blamed herself? Did she get a scratch on his fancy car?

Scowling, she shuffled over to her bed and sat herself down across from him, and only then did he open his eyes and face her.

He didn't look angry.

"Erizawa, for how annoying you are, and how much frustration you bring to my life, you have become a very reliable and trustworthy person," he said quietly, piercing her with his blue eyes. Kaede's breath caught in her throat. That wasn't what she was expecting _at all_.

Kaiba pulled a chain that was hanging around his neck, and pulled it out from under his shirt. It was… a duel monsters card necklace. Kaede nearly rolled her eyes. What a geek.

But then he clicked it open and revealed it was a locket, and showed her the picture of a young Mokuba that was inside.

"You did the right thing today, acting as fast as you could. Mokuba is always top priority, even if it means leaving me without a word. It occurred to me you might have been unsure of how I would react to having you abandon your post and steal my car. Mokuba is always the first priority, and frankly, if you hadn't done what you did today, I'd fire you." He closed it, and slid it back under his collar.

"We've all relaxed too much. Me included. You or Hiroki will always be by his side, what happened today cannot occur again."

Kaede dumbly nodded, trying not to let her jaw drop to the floor. Kaiba was acting particularly out of character, and it was weirding her out.

He stood up from the chair, Kaede's eyes following him.

"I'm sure you'll agree with me staying home from work until Monday, just while things settle down. For this to happen, your… assistance may be needed. While I can't give you important or very difficult work, you've proven to be an effective engineer who can understand software implementation for unfamiliar hardware. It's nearly a shame you didn't continue pursuing programming, you would have done well."

This time, Kaede's jaw did drop. Kaiba had opened up to her, and complimented not once, but twice? She was tempted to glance out the window and check for hellfire or flying farm animals.

He gave her a respectful nod, and strode towards the door, pausing with his hand on the handle to say, "Goodnight… Kaede. Thank you."

Kaede actually did get up to pull open her curtains and check outside.

;

When Kaede woke up, it was nearly noon. She peered blearily out of her sleepy eyes towards her alarm clock and promptly leaped out of bed, doing her best to ignore the head rush it gave her. Mokuba _always_ got her up by ten. Did something happen?

She burst through the double doors of her room and ran next door to Mokuba's room, throwing open a door without knocking to find Mokuba with piles of duel monsters cards around him, blinking owlishly up at her.

"I, uh, panicked when I saw it was lunch time and you hadn't gotten me," she said sheepishly, letting her whole body relax. Mokuba laughed at her, and jumped to his feet.

"I thought you could use the rest after yesterday! Well, actually, Seto said I shouldn't wake you up. Come on, you should get dressed and eat something, then I think my brother wants to see you!"

Kaede's head was spinning. Kaiba was being, dare she say… nice to her? Maybe he had a fever or something.

Mokuba escorted her to the kitchen and instructed her to sit down while he got down a mug for her coffee. She snickered, and took it from him, hitting the fancy coffee machine buttons herself.

"I appreciate your concern, Mokuba, but really, I'm alright. You don't need to make my coffee for me or anything silly like that. I had a good night's sleep, and I'm as perfect as ever!" She said with a sloppy smile and a big thumbs up. Instead of laughing at her enthusiasm like usual though, Mokuba hesitantly bit his lip.

"But Kaede, it's just… you could've gotten really hurt because of me yesterday. For a while, I really thought you were, that guy was a lot bigger than you. You were really awesome and stuff! But, I mean, you did split your lip and get a concussion…" he said, looking guiltily down at his feet.

Kaede furrowed her brows, evaluating how to pursue this gently without going on an angry tirade. Mokuba was feeling bad… because she needed some stitches… after he was the one kidnapped, gagged, and smacked around. If she ever saw that big guy again, he'd stop breathing. "Listen, Mokuba… That's kind of my job. This is what I signed up for. When I agreed to be your full-time babysitter, I knew it wasn't an ordinary babysitting gig. My only regret is that they even had a chance to snatch you. If I ever get hurt, it's my fault, because I wasn't fast enough, or better yet, their fault for being the violent ones in the first place! Don't ever feel guilty, or worried, or anything for me. It's me who's supposed to be worried about you," she said proudly, putting a hand on his head. At that, Mokuba did manage a weak smile up at her.

"Go get me some Tylenol though, concussions do hurt."

;

"You called, darling?" Kaede drawled, entering Kaiba's home office without knocking, Mokuba trailing behind her with a big grin. He shot her a withering glare as if all his kindness from the day before had never happened. She wondered if she had dreamed or imagined the whole interaction.

"Erizawa, put the smart mouth away. It's about time you got up. I thought you were brain dead and I was going to have to take you to the hospital again," he said sharply.

Kaede just smiled sweetly, unceremoniously dropping herself in a chair across from him, "It's so sweet you would take me yourself, Kaiba. I'm touched. My whole heart is melting," she sang at him. He scowled back, looking marvelously unimpressed. Mokuba seemed to be enjoying himself, seated beside Kaede.

"I'm pretty sure the sarcasm isn't in your job description," Kaiba snapped back. Kaede sneered at him in return.

"Sorry hon, it's a package deal, comes with the bodyguarding and on demand programming assistance, you unthankful little-"

"You're quite one to be calling anyone 'little', Erizawa."

"While your total body volume is more than my own, Kaiba, I can make an educated guess about certain anatomy. With all the jets, planes, stadiums, and general overcompensating, I can't help but wonder about certain reproductive accessories."

"While I appreciate the concern, please keep the fact you think about my reproductive accessories to yourself, thanks. I'm not flattered," he shot back without hesitation. Mokuba's mouth dropped open and Kaede looked like she'd been slapped, though her eyes were sparkling with mirth.

The room was silent for a moment, before Kaiba gestured for her to move over beside him, pushing one of his screens towards there.

"Error checking and code clean up. Don't forget to include your name in the documentation. After that, some idiotic engineers are puzzling over a design detail. I don't speak moron, so I'll need you to translate my instructions into a language they'll understand," he said unconcernedly, turning back to his laptop as he let her take over the desktop after she dragged her chair over. She scowled at him again, but was out of snarky remarks after her stunning defeat in their sass battle.

Mokuba had taken to looking over them with amused eyes, pulling out one of his handheld game devices, and sat in the room with them, clicking away at his video game.

;

They worked like that until dinner time, Mokuba occasionally leaving and coming back with a new activity to keep him occupied, seemingly pleased with just being able to be in Kaiba's company during the week, like he was never able to.

Dinner was another adventure though. Apparently, Mokuba had spent time scheming during his silent activities during the day. Kaede was so proud, she could have wiped tears from her eyes.

"Hey, Seto, can I ask you something?" is what Mokuba opened with over beautifully plated steak and potatoes. Kaiba glanced up and gave him a short nod, locking eyes with him.

"Can Yugi and the gang come over tonight for a bit?"

Kaede choked on the sip of water she had just taken, and started coughing; Hiroki just looked up, startled. Kaiba narrowed his eyes into small slants and crossed his fingers in front of his face.

"Mokuba… why on earth would you want to bring the geek squad here? I'm worried it's contagious. Erizawa is especially vulnerable to being converted to the dweeb side," he said suspiciously. Kaede couldn't respond, she was too focused on getting air down her throat.

Mokuba smiled sweetly at his older brother, something Hiroki observed in horror, recognizing the expression the younger Kaiba wore very easily. Kaede was a horrible influence.

"Well, you see, we were planning on seeing them today, but you kept Kaede working. Besides, they're all worried and want to check on us! I guess Kaede could just drive us over after dinner, but I don't think she should really be out driving… who knows how bad her concussion is. The doctor did say she needed to take it easy…"

Kaiba's mouth became a very thin, unhappy line and his eyes darkened as he cast a quick glance at Kaede. She didn't even need to pretend to be innocent; She had no part in this particular plot to annoy Kaiba. She did, however, try to look like she wasn't holding in a large bout of laughter.

Air slowly released itself from Kaiba's nostrils. Mokuba held his serene expression as he held his brother's gaze. It took a minute, but Kaiba finally sighed, and released his hands.

"… Very well. Just keep them away from me, and don't make it a regular thing. After Kaede's better, I never want to see them on my doorstep again."

Kaede choked again, this time on air, rapidly spinning her concussed head to look at a resigned looking Kaiba, who didn't even seem angry. He evenly met her eyes, and Kaede's jaw would've hit the floor if it were physically possible. He was _worried about her_. Better yet, Mokuba knew it, and was taking advantage of it. Even better yet, Kaiba was not stupid, and he definitely knew that Mokuba was taking advantage of the situation. He was letting it happen anyways, because he really didn't want her out driving.

Kaede just gaped at him, and continued gaping at him as he started ignoring her and went back to his meal as Mokuba enthusiastically thanked him.

An hour later, Yugi, Joey, Tea, Mai, and Tristan were at the front door, taking in the sprawling mansion in awe.

"Hey guys, come on in, thanks for coming!" Mokuba greeted them enthusiastically, letting them in.

"Whoa, dis place is huge!" Joey smartly commented, earning a sigh from Mai. They all wisely chose to ignore him, while Mai drew Kaede into a tight hug.

"I'm glad you're okay, hon. Yugi and Tea told us everything, and I've been worried sick! I hope Kaiba's been taking it easy on you." she exclaimed into her shorter friend's hair. Kaede laughed nervously and hugged back before they let go.

"No need to worry Mai, you know it's hard to keep me down. It was just 4 stitches, no biggie, you've watched me get way worse," she said nonchalantly. Mai rolled her eyes, but said nothing, just nodding, while Yugi and Tea agreed.

"Yeah, you look a lot better now, it was scary at the time with all the blood though!" Yugi remarked, making Kaede shrug again.

"All aesthetic damage. Come on in guys, we've been waiting for you to have dessert!"

;

Kaede sat between Yugi and Mai while Mokuba and Joey dueled for the last piece of chocolate cake - Mokuba's favorite. However, to the younger boy's dismay, despite recent improvements to his deck, he lost, and Joey rejoiced in the extra dessert. They all relaxed and played games together well into the night, all of them leaving around midnight, advising both Kaede and Mokuba to be careful and take it easy, and they bade their friends goodnight, both tired, yawning, and ready for bed.

However, as they turned to head upstairs to bed, Kaiba channeled his stealth ninja abilities to noiselessly approach them, giving Kaede half a heart attack.

"Finally, I thought they'd never leave. I want you to look at something, Erizawa," he quickly demanded, arms crossed. Kaede rolled her eyes, but it was Mokuba who protested.

"Aw man, Seto, come on! It's after midnight, Kaede's tired and needs to rest. We did stay up later than I meant," he started, shooting Kaiba the pleading eyes.

Kaede shrugged, rolling her eyes again, getting ready to turn towards and follow Kaiba, who had stopped at Mokuba's words, and was carefully evaluating her.

"It's alright, Mokuba, it's late, but Kaiba probably needs it done-"

"Actually, you're right Mokuba," Kaiba said, relaxing his stance. He turned on his heel, and went back the way he had come, "It can wait until morning, Erizawa, just come to my office when you're up, the engineers responded to the instructions you sent them, and I have another chunk of code I want you to clean up while I work on other things. Goodnight."

Mokuba and Kaede exchanged a bewildered look at Kaiba's change in heart and relaxed attitude, neither one knowing what to say.

"I… Is your brother okay? Should we call a doctor, or maybe… check if the weather network has any emergency postings about the temperature of hell?" Kaede asked carefully, looking nearly a little afraid. Mokuba wordlessly shook his head, watching his brother with a curious look on his face. Kaede just shook her head, following his eyes, watching Kaiba's retreating back with a sigh before continuing on her way to the bedrooms.

Mokuba glanced at Kaede, and back at his brother, a knowing smile making its way onto his face.

;

 **I am both inspired, and very sleepy. A four-day update, a new record! I hope you enjoyed reading and like the direction this story is taking. All feedback welcome, I'm really trying to improve this story as I go, and any suggestions or critique are greatly appreciated. As much as writing this is a (guilty) pleasure activity for me, it's also an exercise in trying to actually finish a story, as well as improve my own writing style for future stories.**

 **It's university reading week! I won't have much of a break because I'll be picking up extra working hours for that $$$, but I'm hoping to have more time to put into this before classes start again next week.**

 **See you next time!**

 **-Nyx**


	8. Purpose

**From Out of Nowhere**

 **Chapter 8: Purpose**

For the rest of the weekend, Kaede alternated spending time with Mokuba, and doing work for Kaiba. Mokuba seemed eager to just sit in the office with them and leave them to their own devices. Kaiba's presence in the mansion did not last long, however. He and Hiroki had left early on Monday morning, and didn't return until eight that night. Kaiba Corp was working on finalizing their new duel disk and Kaiba looked haggard after just one day of coordinating everything for testing, and then production.

By Tuesday, Kaede's headaches were getting less severe, and when Mokuba woke her up, she brought newfound motivation into her day.

"Mokuba, we're going on a field trip today!" she boldly announced over breakfast, holding her fork up triumphantly. Mokuba just cocked an eyebrow at her, very used to her antics from the month or so they had been together.

"We're going… to the gym," she said, pointing her utensil at him dramatically. Mokuba just looked at her quizzically.

"The gym? Why?" He asked, looking unsure. Kaede grabbed her face in despair.

"I noticed it when I had to fight that guy. I haven't been getting my workouts in with this new lifestyle and non-stop babysitting duty! I can't lose my amazing muscles and stunning good lucks, Mokuba. That's how I attract all the boys," she said theatrically. Mokuba rolled his eyes.

"You could have mentioned it. Seto has a home gym you can use, Kaede," he said nonchalantly, making her mouth drop open in a 'o' shape. She thought back to when she had brought him onto her motorcycle. She remembered something about rippling arm muscles and chiseled abs, and decided it made sense and abandoned that train of though.

She nodded fervently, "Alright, field trip cancelled then. Although… how many more magic rooms do you guys have I didn't know about?"

;

Around lunch time, a very stressed looking Hiroki stumbled back through the door without his noble Bossman. Kaede cheerfully jumped up from the table to greet him. Being able to see her brother without Kaiba around as well was an extreme rarity.

"Hiroki, you're home! Got sick of it all and left Kaiba Corp, huh?" she said brightly. Mokuba tailed behind her, snickering a little. Hiroki just pinched his nose and closed his eyes in pain.

"Please…" he started weakly, "don't speak of that place." Kaede balked at him, and Mokuba's expression turned quite grim.

"Oh no… It's the last week of development until duel disc production, right? How… How is Seto?" he asked, looking worried. Hiroki wore an expression that would be appropriate at a funeral, and looked down.

"He's… not good. Eight people have been fired today already, and everyone's evacuated the top floor to get away from him. Of course, that's slowing down communication as well, and making him angrier…" Mokuba shook his head, looking down as well.

"Did… did he send you away?" Mokuba asked meekly. Kaede's eyes widened, but thankfully, Hiroki shook his head.

"He… forgot his briefcase, and nearly put a hole through the wall when he noticed. I should really grab it and get back," Hiroki said hurriedly, giving them a forced smile and hurrying to the office.

Mokuba sighed, sitting back down at the table, much more sombre than before, "Man, I hate when Seto's like this. He gets so stressed out close to deadlines. He's gonna be in such a bad mood this week…"

;

After dinner, Mokuba said he'd play games in the living room while Kaede enjoyed the luxury of home workout equipment. It felt good to get back into her t-shirt and running shoes, and head to where Mokuba had showed her the gym was earlier. It was, like most things Kaiba owned, massive and amazing. It had everything, free weights, weight machines, treadmill, you name it. She warmed up with a run, relishing in the burn of her legs. With her heart beating fast and her music blaring loudly through her earbuds, all her worries were soon temporarily lost.

After a relaxed five kilometers, she jumped off to move onto strength. She paused only to take a short water break, then reached for a set of dumbbells -

A hand grabbed her wrist, and Kaede let out a loud shriek of horror, quickly spinning to rip her hand from the villian's foul clutches, elbow coming up instantaneously to hit him in the face. As she followed through with her elbow hit and landed in a fighting stance, she stopped cold and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.

She had just elbowed Seto Kaiba in the face, and now he had a nosebleed.

His eyes held shock and rage, his mouth turned up into a snarl as he cupped his nose, looking positively livid. Kaede's jaw dropped and she quickly let her stand go to rush to him.

"Oh shit, I didn't hear you come in, Seto, you scared me badly, I'm so sorry!" she blabbered out helplessly, reaching out to him. He smacked her hands away, and held the towel he had brought with him to his face.

"Erizawa, what were you thinking? You're supposed to be a professional bodyguard, not an easily started little girl!" he grunted out harshly, glaring daggers at her. Kaede looked at him blankly, not sure how to deal with the situation at all.

"Listen, I'm sorry, I obviously didn't mean to!" She stammered out in shock. Kaiba's rage only mounted on her.

"Didn't mean to? All I did is singlehandedly run a company and deal with idiots today, and when I come home, I get smacked in the face by an _employee_ ," he snapped at her.

Kaede felt her face drop, and her emotions do a strange somersault at his words. She opened her mouth, and closed it, mouth thinning. She thought he was getting a little better, but… maybe not.

"Listen, Seto, I said sorry. I know you're stressed right now with company stuff," she said, getting heated. "You don't need to take it out on me though. It was an accident. You shouldn't treat friends like this. Just let me help you get clean-"

He scoffed rudely and loudly, cutting her off, "I don't need any friends, Erizawa. I don't want any, and I don't have any. Especially not you. Why am I Seto all of a sudden, what happened to Kaiba? We're not friends," he coldly reiterated.

Kaede glowered back, feeling a pit in her stomach, but also heat in her face. She balled up her hands into fists. Sure, Kaiba was a jerk, but they really did get along, and banter like friends, and he was always asking for her help, and… now she just felt stupid for thinking he considered her to be any more than another idiot employee he hated.

"You're right, Kaiba. What was I thinking?! I've only saved your life, regularly bring you dinner, help you with work and personal projects on your request, and unwaveringly keep you company even though you're a complete ass!" she burst out at him, just making him sneer back. "I doubt it's that you don't need or want friends, Kaiba, it's just that no one can put up with that inflated head under that stupid mullet of yours! No one can spend ten minutes around you without losing their head! I know I already need to make use of my health benefits to deal with exposure to you!" She said crossly.

"Erizawa, you have taken advantage of my patience for far too long," he said, eerily calm as he removed the towel from his face. He glared at her icily. "I don't tolerate inferior people addressing me like this. Bad news, you don't get health benefits when you're fired," he finished coldly staring her down. Kaede felt tears stinging the back of her eyes and _why were they doing that_ , but she glared back just as strongly.

"Inferior people. Alright, that's real nice, Kaiba. Can't even treat people who do a lot for you like a real person," she said in a clipped tone.

He amped up the Kaiba Glare ™ to max power, and said in the darkest voice she had ever heard him use, "Get out of my face, Erizawa."

Kaede glared back, gritting her teeth so hard it hurt, then spun on her heal and stormed out.

;

Workout gear and running shoes still on, she stormed into the living room, where Mokuba instantly dropped his controller and leaped up, looking concerned as though he could sense the mood, "Kaede? What happened?"

Kaede, face still red from anger, huffed, and plopped down on the couch.

"What happened? Why don't you go ask your stupid, pig-headed, egotistic, spoiled brat of a brother," she shouted, making him jump up in surprise a little.

Mokuba looked at her worriedly, "Are you okay though?"

"Me, okay? Absolutely. Just peachy. I mean, I just got fired and gave your brother a nosebleed, but sure," Kaede huffed sarcastically, making Mokuba's eyes widen.

"F-Fired? No way. Listen, Kaede, he can't fire you, he's just frustrated. Once he calms down I'll go iron it out with him, okay?" Mokuba rushed out, moving to sit beside her, "Also, what do you mean you gave him a nose bleed!"

Kaede's eyes dropped, "I didn't mean to. He sneaked up and grabbed my arm to get my attention. It surprised me. My reflexes are amazing."

;

Kaede had a restless sleep that night. Despite Mokuba's assurances that it was okay, something about the situation just didn't settle properly with her. First off, she was angry with Kaiba for being such a pig-headed idiot who lashed out at whoever's near. Second, she was perplexed and frustrated at herself for being upset by his words. Since when did she care what Kaiba had to say? Lastly, a small part of her was actually worried. She did trust Mokuba to smooth things out, and Kaiba would probably be more reasonable once he calmed down… but what if she did lose her job? Living with the Kaiba's had become such a big part of her life. Being with Mokuba was what she had centered herself on to avoid dealing with her father's death properly. She threw herself into her job and interactions with the brothers so she wouldn't have to deal with her personal problems.

Mokuba set a very early alarm for six in the morning like he used to so he could catch Seto on his way to work. He groggily dragged himself to the kitchen and powered through his sleepiness, sitting at the table, and waiting for his brother to inevitably come to get his morning coffee.

He didn't have to wait long. Seto strode into the kitchen, coat flowing out behind him, but stopped dead when he saw Mokuba there.

"Mokuba? What are you doing up?" he asked carefully, ceasing his move for his favorite Blue Eyes White mug.

Mokuba suppressed a yawn, and tried to be as coherent as possible so early in the morning, "Hey, big bro. I wanted to catch you on your way to work. We need to talk."

Seto deadpanned, having a vague idea where it was headed. He scowled, turning his back to Mokuba and focusing on the coffee machine.

"Can't it wait? You know how busy I am. I have to get going soon to make it to the office for seven."

Mokuba gave his brother's back a look of displeasure, "No, it can't wait, Seto. You can't fire Kaede! She's done so much for me, and for you! You owe her an apology. I won't let you get rid of her," he said emphatically.

Kaiba sighed, pinching his nose, and turning back to Mokuba while his coffee brewed, "I didn't fire her. I implied she was fired. Maybe it'll make her straighten up her act and learn some respect. She argues with me like a petulant child," he growled out.

"And you argue back," Mokuba offered mischievously. Kaiba sent him a dirty look making Mokuba smirk, "Face it, Seto. You like her company. You have to fix this." Kaiba started to look annoyed at this point, and his eyes flashed.

"Like her company? I'd rather have to put up with the entire dweeb patrol and Pegasus at the same time than her! She is irritating, loud, has no filter, starts petty arguments with me at every turn-"

"And you respond to it," Mokuba cut him off, hands balling into fists in determination, "you interact with her more than anyone else. She may bother you, but you still put up with it and even seek her out on your own. She makes you less lonely!"

Kaiba scowled back, "Mokuba, I don't know where you're getting these delusions, but trust me, I do not enjoy her company. If you didn't need her, she really would be fired," he said shortly, in a tone that suggested the conversation was over.

Mokuba, however, had his own streak of stubbornness, and gave his brother a flat look, crossing his arms.

"I'm not the only one who needs her, Seto."

With a meaningful look that Kaiba didn't have a response to, Mokuba spun on his heel, satisfied with getting the last word in, and went back upstairs to go back to bed.

;

It was another busy day at Kaiba Corp, and it was extra frustrating to deal with when a portion of Kaiba's mind was elsewhere. Mokuba did not often afford him lectures, but he seemed really serious about this. He scowled as he thought back to the events of the night before. After a long day, all he wanted was to get a workout in to de-stress. That idiot, Erizawa, was sweating and going to work on weights even though she hadn't been cleared with her concussion. He walked in and called out to her to give her a lecture a few times, but annoyingly, she appeared to have hearing problems, so he went to get her attention himself.

He needed her to heal up quickly to be back at full capacity to watch Mokuba and assist him with the last week of duel disk tweaks! Every time another moronic engineer came to him for clarification or another problem, he wanted to scream at them. At least Kaede seemed to have much more patience with directing them than she did with interacting with him. His mouth thinned and he absent-mindedly rubbed at his nose. She was the one who owed him an apology, not the other way around. She was the one who elbowed him in the nose and tried to give him a friendship lecture.

Scowling angrily at his train of thought, Kaiba tried to focus back on his work, but it was a lost cause. He cursed, not being able to be efficiently productive in this state of mind. The pressure must be getting to him, he thought. He never lost his head and focus like this. After all this duel disc nonsense was settled, maybe he would take Mokuba on a long overdue vacation.

He shut his computer with frustration, making Hiroki jump up.

"We're going home for lunch, Hiroki. Let's go," he barked.

They arrived home shortly, just in time to catch Mokuba and Kaede sitting down to some grilled sandwiches and salad. Mokuba's eyes widened and he jumped up to greet them.

"Big bro, you're home! Did something happen?" While he addressed them, Kaede put on her most disgruntled scowl and glared down the CEO, who met her gaze evenly.

"Erizawa. Upstairs. Now." He demanded, ignoring Mokuba's question. Hiroki exchanged a concerned look with Mokuba, while Kaede's eyes just narrowed. She seemed to be contemplating refusing to comply… but in the end, dropped her fork with a clatter, eyes never leaving Kaiba's.

"Sure. Let's go, rich boy," she drawled, crossing her arms. Kaiba was the one who broke the stare, turning around to walk quickly towards his office. Kaede mustered up as much dignity as she could while she half jogged to keep up with his much longer strides, embarrassingly enough. He led her up the stairs, and curiously enough, opened the door and stood aside to let her in, before following behind and letting it shut.

As soon as it closed, they were both standing there, glaring at each other, neither willing to speak first. Kaiba inwardly sighed, regretting this decision. She wasn't making it easy. However, he had work to do, and he didn't make a habit of running away from his problems, especially when they were 5-foot-tall idiots.

"Erizawa. I've decided to overlook your blatant rudeness and unprofessionalism. I have been far too lenient with you. I expect you to clean up your act going forward," he finally said. Kaede just snorted, crossing her arms tightly over her chest.

"Kaiba. I've decided to overlook your blatant asshole-ishness and generally repulsive personality. Unfortunately, I believe you're a lost cause and don't expect it to get any better," she replied stubbornly. She turned her nose up at him, frustrated. Did he really call her here just to start a fight?

Kaiba didn't respond for a few minutes, his frown deepening every few seconds as he mulled over his next words. His displeasure with the situation was nearly tangible.

"Erizawa… I know you are far too petty to make the first step in reconciling, so I'll just have to be the adult here, or it'll never happen," he started sarcastically, making Kaede jump at the word 'reconciling', "Frankly, I don't take kindly to being injured. If you had functioning hearing, you'd know that I had been trying to get your attention for a good minute, and finally gave up on your poorly functioning senses. You shouldn't have been working out. You're still concussed, and I don't need you doing something stupid to hurt yourself while you're still healing," he said with exasperation.

Kaede struggled to retain her angry expression in her shock at his words. He didn't quite say the word 'sorry', but this was Seto Kaiba, and was this his version of nearly apologizing? She processed his words slowly. Sure, she didn't deserve the lashing out she got, but she did feel a little stupider. He had shocked her, but he just approached her because he was worried about her concussion? She wasn't sure what to with that information. She bit her lip, dialling back her pride a little bit.

"I told you I was sorry about the elbow thing… and I really am. But accidents happen when you startle a bodyguard always ready for a fight. As much as I'd give you the lecture of a lifetime, I wouldn't actually hurt you," she started off slowly, surprised at her own words. Her eyes were still dark as she looked at him though.

"You were still irreparably rude. I got hit with some pretty rough insults, even for you," she snuffed, her scowl returning back full force. Kaiba pinched his nose, letting out a lengthy sigh. _Impossible woman._

"Erizawa... Fine. I stand by what I said. I don't have any friends… But if it will appease you, I suppose you'd be the closest thing I have to one. I have come to see you as an equal, at least for some things. You've proven yourself useful. I want you to come work with me and hammer through this hell of a week. It would... help" he said, eyes closed tightly and hesitating on certain words as though it was causing him physical pain to say them.

This time, Kaede did lose her composure, and her mouth dropped open. Kaiba was… constantly surprising her to say the least. It still wasn't a sorry… but she guessed this was about as good as it got with the CEO of Kaiba Corp. It wasn't the most touching thing someone had ever told her by any means, but she still felt a warm feeling spread throughout her chest at his words. He could deny it all he wanted, but she knew how big of a deal this was. She felt bad for escalating their argument from the day before. It was now very clear to her that he accepted her; he just was an obnoxious hothead at the same time. Something she knew she was occasionally guilty of as well.

"Are you really asking for my _help_?" she said with a bit of smugness, and a bit of shock. Kaiba opened his eyes to shoot her another one of those glares she was so accustomed to. Kaede couldn't help but soften a bit and give him a small smile. Kaiba was just her really weird friend who was bad with his feelings and needed a lot of help. They weren't good friends, by any means, but... it was a start.

"I guess there's no way I can refuse my valiant Bossman," she said cheekily, grabbing the hand that was still firmly attached the the bridge of his nose and removing it from his face. She shot him an apologetic smile that she could swear he acknowledged with a small nod. For unidentified reasons, Kaede felt her face heat up. Choosing to ignore it, she shook her head, dropped his hand, and dramatically pointed towards the doors of his office.

"Our mission, should you choose to accept it, is to enjoy lunch and then head to Kaiba Corp to manage your scores of stupid employees! No one can stop the infamous Erizawa-Kaiba team!" she said heartily, by means of lightening the mood. Kaiba snorted, and gave her an unamused look.

"Don't make me regret taking you with me, Erizawa," he grumbled, meeting her eyes. There was a pause as he crossed his arms in displeasure before he said, "Also, while I don't agree with your idiotic declaration, it would be Kaiba-Erizawa. The more important name is supposed to go first."

Kaede frowned back at him, grumbling something about a superiority complex, which made Kaiba's eyes flashed. He matched her frown and walked beside her to go back to the dining table. By the time they returned to Mokuba and Hiroki, they were already involved in another argument.

;

 **A/N: it's 5:30am and also, kill me.**

 **At least not sleeping means I have more time to write? (I did this instead of my lab report, you're welcome, world).**

 **This is another one of those deals where this is unedited mess, but I simply must put it up and go to bed! I hope you enjoy… I had a lot of trouble with this chapter, as it's a lot of conflict, and I knew where I wanted to go, but not how to do it. I'll likely be lightly moving things around/changing it a bit in the next day or so, because though I've laboured over it all week, I can't seem to be happy with it.**

 **As always, any feedback is welcome! Reviews are becoming my lifeblood. Every time I get that email saying someone's reviewed, followed, etc, I open up the file like, "Oh god, someone's reading my garbage, I better get to work on writing more garbage." ;_;**

 **Edit: actually did wake up and edit this. Premise is the same, a bit of fixing up was in order though! I'm still not happy with it. I think this is one of those things where there's no way I can perfect it. I needed it to get done though. Enjoy and see you next time!**

 **-Nyx**


	9. With Me

**From Out of Nowhere**

 **Chapter 9: With Me**

As they entered the dining room, Hiroki sighed in exasperation, but Mokuba beamed at the two of them. A meaningful look passed between the brothers while Kaede was in the middle of a tirade, which just made Mokuba smile brighter. Seto's apology was in his eyes, and Mokuba knew he had taken what he said this morning to heart, whether he would ever admit it or not.

"Hiroki. Your sister will be accompanying me for likely the rest of the week. Stay with Mokuba at all times while we are away at Kaiba Corp. I will not tolerate a repeat of what happened last week." Hiroki bowed his head and Kaede scowled at Kaiba, going on about how he couldn't talk to her older brother like that.

And so the bickering started again. Mokuba did his best to keep the peace while they ate, and after they were done, Kaiba and Kaede left for Kaiba Corp.

Mokuba smiled at them fondly as they left, helping Hiroki clear the table.

"They certainly are a handful when they're together," Hiroki commented, shaking his head. Mokuba laughed in response, nodding fervently in agreement.

"Sometimes, I feel like the older one when I'm trying to speak over the two of them. They turn in children when they argue," Mokuba snickered, making Hiroki sigh.

"Still," Mokuba continued, ceasing his amusement and looking serious, "I think Kaede is really good for Seto. She's really brings him out of his shell. She might not realize it, but she does get special treatment from him. He does appreciate her, even if he doesn't know it yet," he said thoughtfully. Hiroki pondered this for a moment and voiced his agreement.

"Yeah, I thought so. Kaede has always had a way of doing that though. She's the right mix of loyal to a fault with lots of caring, while being also very hotheaded and brutally honest. She's always been an interesting personality. For what it's worth though, I think your brother has been very good for her as well." This made Mokuba turn his head in surprise. Hiroki saw his expression and closed his eyes, looking grim.

"My sister has a very vibrant personality, Mokuba, and is fiercely protective. She doesn't give up. However, when something bad happens, she withdraws into herself and is prone to some serious misery. It's only happened twice. Once, when her high school boyfriend broke up with her, and… when our mother died," he finished sadly, making Mokuba look down. This isn't what he meant to venture into, but Hiroki was still going, and didn't seem to have any reservations about telling him the whole story.

"She's probably never talked to you about it? I thought so. Kaede doesn't think about it. Our mother was in a car accident when Kaede was 17. She wouldn't talk, she wouldn't go to the gym, or go out with her friends. She stopped eating, she stopped going to classes. We thought she was going to drop out of her first year of university. It went on for months, it was… really awful, actually. Me and my father were suffering through the loss as well, and Kaede was… well, she was my father's baby. She was my little sister. She was very much the light of our lives, and she dimmed so much, she had nearly gone out."

Mokuba bit his lip, surprised to hear this information. He couldn't even imagine Kaede wallowing for such a long time. He turned unsurely to Hiroki, "What… what happened then, how'd she get better?"

Hiroki broke the mood he had created with a smile, "She met her friend, that girl you know as well, Mai. Mai has a very strong no-nonsense personality as well, and doesn't believe in feeling sorry for yourself. She really picked Kaede back up and found a way to motivate her again. I imagine she's the person Kaede looks up to most," he finished kindly, making Mokuba grin a bit in return. Hiroki wasn't done though.

"I say your brother is good for her because… well, both of you are, but when our father died, I was so worried she'd go back to that state. She doesn't handle loss well because she's so fiercely protective of her precious people. But, well… it's safe to say with Mr. Kaiba around, she never had time to lose her spunk," he said with a chuckle, making Mokuba laugh as well.

"I'm incredibly thankful to you and your brother for that. She moved through the grieving process very quickly with your company," he inclined his head to the younger Kaiba, "For that, you also have my loyalty for life. She may be your bodyguard, but you have both taken excellent care of my little sister. She's all I have left, and seeing her so happy is enough to make me happy as well."

Mokuba glowed, feeling new respect for the man he had always liked, but didn't know as well as he knew Kaede. It was hard to get to know Hiroki when he was a strict professional around his older brother, but he was thrilled to see that they were as close as he and Seto were, and that the older man was really a big softie at heart.

Mokuba beamed, jumping up and grabbing Hiroki's arm, "Come on then, Hiroki! We have to take advantage of this situation and gossip about our siblings while they're gone!"

;

"No, no, no! Did you even look at the life point counter display? Do you know what Seto would do if he saw this? It's not straight! You better grab a ruler and go fix this before you turn it in. Trust me, it's for your own good," Kaede's muffled voice filtered through the closed door, followed by a series of apologies and a person running away. A moment later, she let herself back into his office, rubbing her temples.

"Idiots. All idiots. Most advanced gaming technology the world has to offer, didn't check to see if the cells for the life point counter were in line. My design professor would weep," she said in an exasperated huff. Kaiba tried to not look amused, and obviously succeeded, because he was Seto Kaiba, king of the stony, expressionless face.

Work was going much better now that he had Kaede being the one to directly interact with employees, saving him time, and his sanity. She was also likely saving their jobs.

Sighing, she sat herself back down beside Kaiba, where they were reviewing the code for the duel disk. There were a few bugs with certain cards when played on the duel disc, to Kaiba's displeasure. Fortunately, Kaede had a sharp eye for discrepancies, and he actually knew how to write the programming. Together, they were quickly getting throw the list of bugged cards that he was much slower dealing with in the morning.

The rest of the week was similar. Kaede and Kaiba spent long hours at the office, until Friday, when Kaede dragged him home at five o'clock sharp, the duel disk perfected.

"It's done, Kaiba. Let's go home. This is not part of my work contract," She hissed at the CEO who was still finding things to work on, despite his met deadline.

"We haven't tested the final adjustments with the tournament arena. Everything needs to be perfect for the release. We can't unveil this to the public and have the display fall through! Until it's done, the duel disk isn't complete," he argued stubbornly.

Kaede rolled her eyes, and forcible grabbed Kaiba's arm, tugging him away from his desk.

"Don't care. Home now. Hungry. If it's going to kill you, we can come back tomorrow when everyone's gone, and Mokuba can run the board so you can test it. We'll have all day, it'll be the best field trip ever," she said sarcastically, "Now let's go."

;

The next day, Kaiba did take her up on her offer, and they all left for a field trip, as Kaede put it. To everyone else's disdain though, Kaiba got them up very early in the morning, so he would have all day if needed to work on the arena. Kaiba was much more at ease with an empty office building and no employees to deal with, so despite overall tiredness on a Saturday, getting ready for the simulation was much more painless than the rest of the week had been.

The only kink in the plan came when Mokuba and Kaiba had finished getting ready, and Kaiba handed Kaede one of the duel disk prototypes.

"Wha- what are you doing? I don't want it. Test it yourself," she said blandly, pushing it back towards him. Kaiba growled and thrust it back at her.

"Duel me, Erizawa. Don't be shy, we all already know you'll lose. I even built a deck for you to use. We need to see how a full duel runs, and I'd rather have you on the ground to observe results with your own eyes. Besides, Hiroki doesn't duel, and I need Mokuba to run the controls," he said sharply. He forced her to hold it and strode away before she could finish saying she doesn't duel either.

Mokuba and Hiroki were in a closed off pod that hung over the arena with all of the controls. The duel arena was completely contained in its own room, with fully automatic doors, platforms, everything. As per usual, everything Kaiba Corp did was state of the art.

Kaede hesitantly stood at one end of the arena after an electric lift brought her up to it, with Kaiba on the other end. She slid on the alien duel disk with the cards she didn't know how to use. Kaiba waved to Mokuba who turned on the stadium lights and booted up the automated announcer.

"Welcome to the Kaiba Corp duel arena. Today's match: Seto Kaiba versus Kaede Erizawa. Now randomizing who will go first," a clear voice rang out.

"First move: Seto Kaiba. The duel will now begin," the woman's voice came next. The duel disk on Kaede's arm lit up, showing her life points, and then… Abruptly, everything short circuited. Sparks came flying out of the command desk above them, lights started flashing, and then the entire stadium fell into darkness.

There was silence for a minute. Kaede's duel disk had turned off, the whole arena was pitch black, and even the lights from the pod above were off. She nearly panicked, worried this was an elaborate scheme-

Strangely, it was Kaiba's next words that instantly reassured her and reminded her they were safe. Strange how he was the one who reminded her of that when she was the bodyguard around here.

"Someone's getting fired for this. Mokuba, what's going on up there?" Kaiba asked coldly. Mokuba's response came muffled from behind the glass windows of the pod.

"I'm not sure what went wrong, Seto, but all the power's out! Even the backup generators aren't starting up!"

Kaede couldn't see him in the dark, but she could clearly picture the scowl he was wearing in her mind's eye, "Ridiculous. Let's get out of here and find who's responsible for this. How dare they mess something like this up so close to production. They'll wish they'd never been born."

Kaede could hear him start to move, looking for a way out.

"Err… Big bro… all the power's out. That means the platforms and the doors don't work. Me and Hiroki can get downstairs to see what's up, but… you and Kaede will be stuck there until the power comes back up," he said sheepishly. Kaede's face fell into her hands as she could tangibly feel Kaiba's annoyance fill the air. He would be… unbearable with this situation.

Kaiba growled audibly. "Fine. Do what you can, Mokuba, and fast. Erizawa, where are you," he barked out, and Kaede could hear his footsteps come closer.

"Over here!" she shouted out, voice echoing slightly in the large arena. She held her arms out in front of her blindly and tried to walk towards where she heard Kaiba's footsteps.

Of course, this inevitably meant they walked into each other. Kaede turned, and bumped into a very sturdy Kaiba, breaking her balance with a yelp. Thankfully, Kaiba had ninja-like reflexes and managed to firmly catch her by her arms before she hit the ground.

"Watch it, Erizawa," he said icily. Kaede blinked a few times to let her eyes adjust to the darkness. She could at least see Kaiba's outline now, as well as some very dim features. Of course, he was frowning.

"I should've handled all the preparations myself. Apparently, there isn't a single moron in this company who can do their job right," he growled, turning away. Kaede just sighed and slid the rest of the way down, seating herself on the cold ground.

"Eh, it's just as well. I didn't want to duel you anyways," she said with a jerk of her head.

Kaiba looked down and sneered at her, "What, scared, Erizawa? You're not usually so quick to back down from a fight. Though, I guess I can understand wanting to avoid embarrassing defeat."

Kaede rolled her eyes. Kaiba was taking their 'test duel' awfully seriously. She shrugged again, not even sparing his ugly sneer a glance. "It's not that, I just don't really know how to duel," she said nonchalantly.

There was silence, and then she felt Kaiba move down to sit across from her. He had a dark look on his face, "What do you mean… you don't know how to duel?" he asked carefully. Kaede shrugged again.

"Exactly that, Kaibaman. Mokuba's tried to explain it to me a few times, but he's not the greatest teacher. I guess I never really cared for duel monsters anyways."

If she could see his face, she would have laughed. Kaiba looked bewildered, like he didn't understand what was happening, "You… don't care about duel monsters," he said slowly.

"Can't say I do."

"You don't know how to duel."

"Not at all."

"Erizawa… I respect you as a colleague and person of value," he started, making her raise an eyebrow, "But that's unacceptable, and frankly, embarrassing. Get that deck out, I'm teaching you how to play right now."

Kaede wasn't exactly sure how to process the next two hours. She sat huddled beside Kaiba as he explained rules and strategies, and showed her cards under the dim light of his digital watch. For once, he wasn't demeaning or insulting. He explained the game clearly, stopping when she had questions, patiently walking her through an example duel.

She could swear he was… enjoying himself. She had never seen him like this, so relaxed, and nearly happy talking about the game he was so passionate about. If she was honest, she was enjoying herself too. They had never really relaxed around each other and stopped the bickering and sarcasm. She was nearly disappointed when the lights suddenly flickered back to life in the middle of one of Kaiba's demonstrations, making her blink rapidly in the new light, unconsciously groaning and turning into Kaiba's shoulder to shield her eyes.

While walking towards them, Kaiba collecting his cards into a pile, Kaede still turned towards him rubbing her eyes, Mokuba grinned smugly at the sight.

"Big bro! Kaede! Sorry it took so long, we blew like three fuses! All fixed now though. We can try the test again if you want. A few things were just hooked up wrong. We have some electricians and engineers here now to make sure everything's right," he announced cheerfully, giving them both a cheeky smile.

Neither of them noticed. Kaiba just grunted, getting to his feet, unconsciously reaching a hand down to Kaede. Hiroki's eyes nearly bugged out of his head as he watched his sister look at the hand as though it might be poisoned, then hesitantly take it and be helped to her feet. He nervously looked beside him to see Mokuba smirking, eves dancing mischievously. He didn't like where this was going.

"Finally. When I get my hands on them-" Kaiba started sharply. Kaede sighed, grabbing the back of his swooping white jacket.

"No. Bad Kaiba, down boy," she said monotonously. He stopped to glare back at her, which she met defiantly, crossing her arms.

"Come on, Kaiba. Accidents happen, we've been over this. They're here on a Saturday to fix it. Let's just put it to the test now; let's see how good of a teacher you are," she said, eyes dancing. Kaiba seemed to struggled for a second, but then, to everyone's surprise, sighed.

"Fine. It's a waste of my time anyways. Let's get this duel on," he said, all kindness from their time in the dark gone.

Kaede rolled her eyes, but went to her place, destined to lose, but at least more confident she wouldn't make a total fool of herself. She would have to at least make the duel last long enough to be a decent test.

Mokuba and Hiroki went back to the pod, and the announcer started up again. This time, Kaede was selected to go first. She smirked as the life points came up on her duel disk, and she drew her first hand, "Alright, rich boy, it's time to duel!"

;

It was smooth sailing from that point. Kaiba forced Kaede to lose about four duels until he was satisfied and said they could go home, by which point, it was lunch time.

"Come on, big bro, let's go out to eat, we haven't in so long! We can treat Hiroki and Kaede!"

Hiroki chuckled from the driver's seat, while Kaiba sighed, and Kaede smirked, "Yeah, come on rich boy, flaunt that money, treat me to a meal!"

Kaiba shot her a dirty look via the rearview mirror.

"Oh, oh, let's go to Portobello, they should be open by now! You love it there, Seto!" Mokuba said excitedly. Kaiba sighed, crossing his arms as he yielded to his younger brother's cheerful face.

"… Fine. Hiroki, head for downtown."

It turned out, going to a restaurant with Seto Kaiba was a lot like being with a movie star. They parked on the side of the street, and as they walked to the doors of Portobello, people on the street for the lunch rush would double take, and glance back over their shoulders to catch a glimpse of the infamous CEO of Kaiba Corp. Reputable for his success, business sense, and technological evolutions, but also known to be rather cold and cruel.

He paid no one any mind as Hiroki reached the door first, and held it open for them all to enter.

It was fancier than Kaede expected, though she realized in hindsight she should have known better, as she glanced down a little self-consciously at her hoodie and trademark leather jacket. The maître D' didn't seem to mind as he nearly fell over himself to run and welcome them.

"W-Why, good afternoon, if it isn't Mr. Kaiba! It has been some time since you've graced us with a visit! Please, please, come right on in, your usual spot is available," he said happily, though a little shocked. He was a portly, middle-aged man with all his hair neatly swept to one side, dressed smartly in slacks and a tie.

He hummed, waving them to follow him as he smoothly grabbed a stack of menus. He led them to a back corner of the restaurant, where he gracefully pulled out a chair, and bowed slightly, gesturing to Kaede, "Ladies first, of course. Welcome to Portobello, my dear," Kaede flashed him a winning grin, thanking him kindly, and sitting herself nicely. Kaiba sat beside her, with Mokuba across from her, and Hiroki taking the remaining seat.

"The usual bottle of Merlot, Mr. Kaiba?" The maître D' offered kindly. Kaiba simply nodded shortly, and with that, he pulled a partition around their table for more privacy from the rest of the restaurant that appeared to already be filling with important business lunches, and withdrew.

Kaede turned to Kaiba, waggling her eyebrows, "A bottle of wine to celebrate today's successes? Why, Kaiba, darling, you spoil me," she rang out. Kaiba rolled his eyes, but smirked back at her.

"I'm pretty sure all you did today was lose at duel monsters, so think of it more as celebrating my successes, _darling_ ," he said cockily. Kaede rolled her eyes, but laughed a little in shock of the sass she got back. He really must've been in a good mood, finally having everything with the duel disk dealt with.

The man returned at that moment, pouring wine for Kaede first, and then Kaiba, before Hiroki politely declined, as he would be driving them back.

"The daily special for you, Mr. Kaiba, as usual?" Kaiba nodded, handed the man his menu, "Yes, thank you, Antonio," he said. Kaede gave him a strange look and took a sip of wine. Very fancy tasting. Also, that was the first time she had ever heard him thank someone so freely.

"For you, Mrs. Kaiba?" The sip of wine Kaede just took promptly exited her mouth, Hiroki choked on water, Mokuba let out a short bark of laughter, and Kaiba started loudly coughing.

Eyes watering, and wine dribbling down her chin, Kaede stared at the man and started shaking her head furiously, "Mrs. Kai- no, not even in his wildest dreams. Not even in my worst nightmares," she stammered out, hastily reaching for a napkin to wipe her mouth. This just made Mokuba break out into hysterical laughter, and Kaiba seemed frozen.

Antonio just cocked a nonchalant eyebrow at her, not even remotely phased, "Oh, are you not married yet? Mr. Kaiba's been coming here for years, and he's never brought a lady friend bef-"

"We are not involved, _Ms. Erizawa_ is a colleague of mine, that is all," Kaiba managed to choke out, eyes closed, as Kaede started banging her head against the table. Mokuba's eyes were watering and he was still trapped in a cycle of breathless laughter.

"I apologize, Mr. Kaiba, I should not have assumed," he replied, still nonplussed. Kaiba nodded shortly, "Don't speak of this ever again," he ordered quietly, "We'll have another special for my _colleagues,_ Hiroki and Kaede, and Mokuba will have the ravioli," he said, eyes closed, voice sounding pained.

"Very well, sir, I will return shortly with the antipasto," he said in good grace, bowing his head and taking his leave.

Refusing to look in Kaiba's direction, unable to see Hiroki's reaction, and not emotionally ready to watch Mokuba try to calm his laughter down, Kaede pursed her lips and stared at her glass of wine.

It's not tasteful to down a glass of wine at a fancy restaurant when at lunch with your boss and a minor, but Kaede did it anyways. When she was brave enough to check on Kaiba's glass, she saw it was empty as well. Mokuba was taking deep, calming breaths, and Kaede carefully looked up to see Kaiba sneaking a glance at her as well. They exchanged a miserable glance and he wordlessly refilled her glass, followed by his own.

"I don't know, Hiroki, I think they make a pretty cute couple, what about you?" Mokuba helpfully inputted just as Kaiba and Kaede were preparing to drink away the terrible situation.

Hiroki sputtered, trying not to laugh at the reaction Mokuba got out of the pair of hotheads, tactfully covering his mouth with his hands. Kaiba closed his eyes and started rubbing his temples, and Kaede's already fair skin paled a few shades as her eyes grew dangerous and she channeled her inner Bossman, "Mokuba… you're fired."

"You can't fire my brother," Kaiba sighed from beside her, massaging his head as though trying to erase the memories of today from his mind.

Kaede's glare flattened on the elder Kaiba, "Are you sure? Did you hear what he just said?"

Mokuba snickered as his brother considered this for a moment.

"Mokuba, you're fired," he agreed in a resigned voice. Kaede silently toasted him, reaching for her wine. They were definitely going to need another bottle to get through this lunch.

;

 **A/N: One day update! One day update! One day update! Amazing. Never before seen. Thank you, amazing and supportive readers for your positive reception and encouragement. It really made me get to work today.**

 **As always, feedback welcome. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! After being unhappy with the last few, this is finally one I'm quite proud of. It has everything – drama! Flair! Duels! Fluff! And Mokuba carrying the team and making the plot happen. Thanks for continuing to read, and hopefully enjoy. Until next time!**

 **-Nyx**


	10. Explosions

**From Out of Nowhere**

 **Chapter 10: Explosions**

They ended up sticking to just the one bottle of wine. With just Kaiba and Kaede drinking, it was enough to leave them a little tipsy. As the drink went down though, Kaede seemed to find Antonio's earlier mix up funnier and funnier, and realized it was a wonderful way to torment Kaiba. Unfortunately, Kaiba didn't share this view. He was a little less stony faced though, and it was much easier to see his discomfort and exasperation every time she or Mokuba subjected him to a bit of psychological torture.

In that regard, lunch ended up being a lot of fun. Antonio cleared their plates, and asked if they'd like to see the dessert menu, to which Mokuba enthusiastically agreed before Kaiba could shoot him down. His morose expression that followed was quite entertaining.

Antonio returned a moment later, and passed a dessert menu to them all. As he left them to look at the selection, Kaede opened her menu, and her eyes opened in mock amazement.

"Hey, Kaiba, do you know what's on the menu?" she stage whispered, leaning over to her very unamused companion. Kaiba rolled his eyes with exasperation.

"What, Erizawa," he sighed out dejectedly. She bit her lip to hold in a snicker, Mokuba's eyes lighting up as he watched the two of them.

She paused a moment for dramatic effect, and then waggled her eyebrows at him, "… Me 'N' 'U'."

Mokuba burst out into hysterical laughter once again, and she collapsed into a fit of giggles as Kaiba put his face in his hands, shielding his eyes from the rest of the table.

"You're never allowed near the wine ever again," he muttered miserably, which just made her and Mokuba laugh harder.

He raised a hand to wave down Antonio, face in his hands, "Bill. Please," he demanded curtly. Kaede sighed, shutting the menu.

"Oh, alright Kaiba. I guess I don't need dessert, you're already so sweet," she said, batting her eyelashes mockingly at him. Mokuba banged his fist on the table, laughing still as Kaiba sunk lower into his seat.

"K-Kaede, you've found his weakness! You defeated Seto!"

;

They all managed to wind down on the drive home. As soon as Hiroki slowed enough for a door to open, Kaiba had evacuated the car and was swiftly walking towards the mansion before they even parked. Chuckling, Hiroki finally stopped, and led Mokuba and Kaede inside as well a moment later, the two of them chattering excitedly while he listened fondly.

"Kaede, we should duel now that you finally know how!" he said enthusiastically. Kaede sighed, having already lost enough duels today, but agreed anyways, unable to refuse the younger boy. His eyes lit up in response, "Let's go then! Come on, all my cards are in my room."

He led her up the stairs to his room, running to get his large collection of cards from his closet, "You can build a new deck now and everything! What do you think you'll-" he froze, coming back into the room, box of cards in his hands. Kaede raised a concerned eyebrow, "Mokuba? What-"

"Spider."

Kaede's face dropped into one of exasperation, as she slowly turned to where Mokuba's gaze was locked. Sure enough, high up on the wall near the ceiling was a large black spider. She shrugged, gesturing him forward, "It's okay, Mokuba, it's more scared of us than you are of it, it won't hurt you," she said carelessly.

Mokuba shot her a scandalized look, terror in his eyes, "I… will not be able to sleep in this room until it's dead," he said seriously. Kaede raised an amused eyebrow. Mokuba was scared of spiders? It would appear she learned both of the Kaiba brothers' weaknesses today.

Instead of teasing him, though, she nodded dutifully and faced their new enemy, hands on her hips. Unfortunately, with her height, and Kaiba's high fancy ceilings, she couldn't reach it. Her eyes scanned the area. If she moved the dresser over, and then put a chair on top of the dresser and stood on that… she could do it.

She put her plan into action, moving furniture to the spider's location while Mokuba remained in the doorway, eyes locked on their eight-legged enemy - "IT MOOOOOVED!" Mokuba screeched, making Kaede jump. She cursed as it started to wiggle around, and grabbed a tissue, haphazardly hauling herself up onto her dangerous pile of furniture.

Blocking out Mokuba's whines, she slammed her hand with the tissue against it, squashing their most dangerous foe.

"There, it's dead! Now calm - AH!" Kaede let out a yelp as the chair slipped from beneath her foot, sliding against the dresser she had optimistically and precariously balanced it on. Her eyes widened as she fell backwards, knowing there was nothing she could do to stop it, and let out a curse, "Fu-"

She was cut off as instead, she landed against a person who had held out their arms to catch her. She looked up to see Kaiba, her heart beating fast and eyes still wide as she made a small 'o' of surprise. They stayed like that for a minute, gazed locked, as Kaiba sturdily carried her weight.

"Kaiba… I think I just fell for you," she said slyly with a cheeky grin. Kaiba snorted and dropped her on the floor, "Idiot," he scoffed, striding back out the door. Mokuba and Kaede's laughter followed him out.

;

Seto Kaiba sighed, looking away from his computer screen with a groan, rubbing his temples. It was late, and the bright light was starting to irritate his eyes. He just had a little more to do-

His mouth lifted slightly at the corners as someone quietly entered the room. The person strode over beside him and entwined her fingers with his as she leaned over and peaked at his laptop.

"Maaaah, Seto, it's really late. What can I do to help you finish this and get to bed?" He opened his eyes to look at his new companion, unable to contain a small, fond smile.

"I just have a few more finance reports to check over before the meeting tomorrow. I could use another set of eyes, I'm starting to go slow."

He placed his hands on her waist and carefully pulled her down into his lap. She rolled her silver eyes, but didn't fight him, settling against his chest as she took control over the mouse.

They stayed like that for about half an hour more, with a few comments passed between them, before Seto shut his laptop down with a groan, burying his face in her back, wrapping his arms around her.

"After all this is done, I'm taking you on a vacation. What would I do without you?" The woman snickered, resting her head on top of his for a moment before pulling free, and taking his hands to pull him out of his chair as well.

"You'd get a lot less work done, and you'd never sleep. You need to rest, Seto, I get so worried when you work like this," she said. Seto leaned down to touch his forehead to hers, taking in her scent.

"I know, I'm sorry. I'm trying to get away from it. For now, let's go to bed," he said huskily. She grinned up at him, wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him in closer.

"I love you, Kaede," he whispered, just before their lips met-

There was a yell and a thump as Seto Kaiba hit the floor, having rolled out of bed in a desperate panic. Sweating, and eyes wide, he hastily struggled to banish his nightmare from his mind's eye. As well as the soft touches, the comforting contact, the-

He let out a defeated groan, dropping his head in his hands, before untangling himself from his sheets. He got up briskly and quickly made his way to the bathroom to have a hot shower to wash away his nightmare.

;

He was surprised to find he had slept in, at least, for him. When he got downstairs, it was already nine o'clock, and even Kaede and Mokuba were already up and moving around for breakfast.

When he entered the kitchen, Kaede was there bustling around to make herself a coffee. She met his eyes as he entered and gave him a smirk, "Well good morning, sleeping beauty! Coffee?" Without waiting for an answer, she wordlessly swapped in his favorite mug and pressed the buttons. A large, extra strong, black Americano, exactly how he made it for himself. She handed it to him a moment later, sly smile still on her face.

"I've never seen you sleep in past 7, Mokuba and I were debating if we should check if you died. I'm glad you're still with us in the world of the living, because it's French toast for breakfast!" she teased.

Kaiba blinked owlishly at her, invisible heat rising up his neck, his dream coming back to the forefront of his mind.

"I- very busy, lots of work... Finance reports," he mumbled incoherently, quickly turning around and striding away. Kaede just gave him a strange look, and shrugged, going back to Mokuba.

And thus, Kaiba avoided her for the rest of the day.

;

Things were finally slowing down at Kaiba Corp with the duel disk moving to the production stage, so their schedule went back to normal, and Kaede was back to staying with Mokuba full time. There was a peaceful few weeks of hanging around the mansion, visiting their friends, and being lulled into a false sense of security, until finally, something went wrong.

"Come on, Mokuba, dinner's getting cold, we gotta get moving!" Kaede called up the stairs, a bag of packed food on one arm. It was a Wednesday evening, and it was their weekly visit to Kaiba Corp to bring dinner to Kaiba and Hiroki.

"Coming, Kae!" Mokuba called, already running down the stairs, pulling on his vest. Kaede rolled her eyes at the boy, and led him to the garage to get her motorcycle, which she still insisted on driving as much as she could in their final month of summer, much to Kaiba's displeasure.

They sped off and arrived soon enough, Kaede parking on the street, both of them jovially entering the building.

The ground floor was empty, but that wasn't unusual on a typical work day, with everyone save a few security guards and unfortunate programmers having gone home already. The lights were dim and their footsteps echoed around them as they walked towards the elevator. It was silent. Nearly a little... Too silent.

Kaede frowned slightly, but didn't stop, and they rode the elevator all the way to the top floor. Again, it was eerily quiet. She didn't hear any vacuums from the cleaners running, or any whirring machinery, or chatter between security. An unidentifiable, uneasy feeling built up in her gut as they got higher up. By the time they were at the top, Kaede was tense and perched like a threatened cat. The doors opened and -

There, around the corner, legs on the ground. She let out a low hiss and dropped the food, grabbing a confused Mokuba by the arm and dragging him out. Finally, the silence died, and there was grunted and banging coming from the direction of Kaiba's office.

"Mokuba! In here, now," she said hastily, practically shoving him into the empty office of one of Kaiba's executive assistants. Mokuba's eyes had widened at her behaviour, beginning to look frightened, "Kaede, wha-"

"Quiet. Lock the door. Don't let anyone in except me or your brother," she ordered quickly, swiftly shutting the door on him. She quietly but quickly walked back around the corner by the elevator to examine the person she had noticed and-

A gasp escaped her. Hiroki, on the ground, unconscious. Blood nearby. He-

The world spun, and she gaped like a fish, shaking a little as she crouched down towards him. What happened? Could he-

"AUGH" came a loud yell from behind the closed doors of Kaiba's office. Kaede swore as her head snapped back towards them, straightening her legs. Hiroki was fine, Hiroki was fine... Kaiba.

She scowled, breaking into a run towards the doors. With a grunt of effort, she grabbed the handle and slammed her side into the door, bursting in to see Kaiba and a set of men in the middle of a struggled.

Kaiba was on the ground, wide eyed, and grappling with a man above him who was wearing a pained grin, trying to pin him down, while the second, who was standing back with an aimed gun spun to look at her as she burst in.

Kaede saw red and felt true terror as her blood ran cold, her heart jumped into her throat, and a crescendo of fear rose up in her stomach. None of it was for her, and suddenly, it was a lot more than devotion to her job or her father's memory that drove her into a wild scream of, "Get away from Seto!" as she ran at the second man and tackled him.

She had driven him into the ground before he could shoot out of shock, and she quickly rose her leg up and kicked it out of his hand, before running her fist into his face, driven by blinding rage and fear. She could feel every heartbeat in her throat as she threw another punch, and another, and another, until the man's eyes went dazed and rolled towards the back of his head.

She jumped up, and with a shriek, kicked the gun even farther away before spinning towards Kaiba and the other. Kaiba finally pushed him off, and quickly slid backwards away, not moving his eyes from the wild man who stumbled back to his feet, and whipped out a knife, and dived for Kaiba-

And then Kaede was there too, sliding in front of Seto, catching the blade with her bare hand, screaming out in pain as it tore through her flesh.

"Kaede!" came a desperate yell from Seto, who she had pushed aside, away from the attack, but she didn't have time to glance at him. She didn't let go of the blade, instead grabbing on with a yell of effort, and tugged the man off balance.

She was not ashamed to say she then kicked her leg up as hard as she could muster to hit him in his nether region. The man gasped in pain, and hesitated with the knife, giving Kaede an opening to grab the handle with her other hand, and wrench it away from him with a frightened cry, throwing it to the side, tears welling up in her eyes as the blade left her hand and she could feel the blood running down her arm.

She bit her lip and struggled to her feet, but not before the enraged man growled at her and tackled her back now.

"You bitch!" he swore breathlessly, slamming her to the ground with an arm across her throat. Kaede's eyes widened as he pushed down on her windpipe and she let out a strained gag. She reached up and slapped him with her injured hand, but all it did was make him a little uglier and a little angrier.

Groaning, she shut her eyes and painfully raised her knee, catching him in the stomach with it, lightening the pressure on her throat. He swore and went in to punch her-

But before he could, Kaiba let out an angry curse as he elbowed the man in the side, knocking him off Kaede.

"You piece of filth-" he growled viciously, swinging a punch at the man's face. Kaiba caught him across the jaw as Kaede scrambled back to her feet, rushing forward to help. Trying to ignore the searing pain in her everything, she ran to the man's side, and caught him in the side of the neck with her forearm, and like that, he joined his friend in the realm of unconsciousness.

They looked at each other, panic in Kaiba's eyes, pain in Kaede's, and he rose a hand and moved towards her-

More banging. Kaede bit her lip and hastily wiped the dampness from her eyes as she quickly moved to sweep the gun up off the floor and spun for the door. "Mokuba," was all she said. Kaiba's eyes widened, and they both ran out the door without another word.

There was a third man, banging angrily on the door to the office Kaede had left him in, another gun in hand. Kaede swore viciously, "Hey, ugly, get over here and let me deal with you first!" she growled out. The man spun with a furious look, and let out a shot toward them. Kaede screamed, and impulsively body-checked Kaiba with her shoulder, making him yell out, and tumble away from the shot as she took the hit in her abdomen instead.

"KAEDE!" Kaiba yelled out, but Kaede ignored him. Grimacing, she rose her own gun and aimed it back at the man, shooting him in the gut before his eyes could even widen all the way.

There was a groan, and he crumpled to the ground, but Kaede still ran the rest of the way and clocked him in the head with the hilt of the gun as hard as she could for good measure before following him down.

"KAEDE!" Kaiba yelled out again, scrambling to his feet and running to her. With gentleness she had never known from him, he kneeled down beside her and pulled her up against his knee. His eyes were wide and palms sweating. She was getting pale. There were three unconscious men in his office, both Hiroki and Kaede had taken shots for him, he had no idea what was going on, and he was panicking. His heart was in his throat as she carefully supported the woman who had saved his life yet again, who was always there when he needed her-

She was bleeding from her side and in considerable pain, but again, she blinked away her tears, and instead, painstakingly reached into her back pocket for her phone, handing it to Kaiba with wide, desperate eyes.

"S-Seto... Call an ambulance for Hiroki," she asked pitifully. Kaiba steeled his gaze and swiftly took it from her, knowing it was best to let her take charge, just like the night of the gala. She slowly moved herself to her knees, and then her feet, slowly looking around the floor to make sure there wasn't anyone else hiding. She grit her teeth and forced down the whimper she wanted to let out as moved to Hiroki as quickly as she could, gripping her now blood-soaked shirt.

She fell to her knees beside him, Kaiba's even, demanding tone becoming nothingness in the background as she focused in on his face.

His chest wasn't moving.

A flurry of emotions rushed to the surface as she fought down a scream and bent over him.

"Hiroki? HIROKI!" She called frantically, shaking his arm. Eyes wide, she quickly kneeled beside him, getting ready for CPR. Shoving as much panic as she could down, she laid him flat on his back, tilted his head back - 2 quick breaths into the mouth, then back up, 30 chest compressions. 2 quick breaths, back up, 30 chest compressions. She notice the tears falling freely down her face until she could taste them as her lips moved silently to the counts of her compressions. She didn't hear Kaiba and Mokuba come up behind her, or Mokuba's quiet sobs into his brother's chest. 2 quick breaths, 30 chest compressions. She didn't notice people coming up the elevator. 2 quick breaths. Emergency responders burst onto the floor, and there was a flurry of activity as she started 30 chest compressions.

Yelling as the police quickly spread out and captured the unconscious men, followed by paramedics rushing out, some to the men, the rest to her, Kaiba, and Mokuba. 2 breaths. She didn't recognize the feeling of someone trying to pull her away, because she was in the middle of another 30 compressions. She didn't make it down for the next two breaths as she was painfully pulled away, two unknown men taking her place by Hiroki's side. As she was pulled away, all her senses reawakened with terrible clarity.

"HIROKI! HIROKI! LET ME GO, I CAN SAVE HIM, I CAN-"

"Miss, calm down, you're injured, we need to get you out of here-"

"NO, NO, THAT'S MY BROTHER-"

"Kaede, please, stop fighting them, you need to get in an ambulance!"

"HIROKI! PLEASE, LET ME GO-"

"She's hyperventilating, get a tranquilizer, she's going to hurt herself."

"NO, NO, NO, HIROKI, PLEASE, I NEED TO SAVE HIM-"

"Quickly, grab her!"

"HIROKI-"

Arms grabbed her from behind and a needle slid into her arm, and a lot of things started seeming a lot less urgent. She started struggling to keep a grasp on the situation. Kaede gasped, feeling herself weaken, and collapse against the people holding her. Her eyes felt heavy, but she tried to fight it, looking frantically towards where she knew her brother was.

"H-Hiroki, not you too..." she let out weakly, struggling to stay conscious. There was a person in front of her, blocking her view.

The last thing she saw was a pair of moist blue eyes.


	11. Organs

**From Out of Nowhere**

 **Chapter 11: Organs**

Seto Kaiba paced in the waiting room of the hospital. Mokuba's sobs had long died out, but his eyes were still damp, and dried tear trails ran down his cheeks. He was huddled in a chair with his chin in his hands, staring blankly at the reception desk. Kaiba couldn't sit still. The guilt he felt was immense, and yet the relief that it wasn't Mokuba was there as well, making the guilt worse.

Hiroki had been pronounced dead before they made it to the hospital. He had been shot when the men had first attacked, lost lung function, and died. Then they went after Kaiba. He would've been dead now too if it weren't for-

Kaede. Kaiba sighed, propping himself against a wall as he looked morosely in the direction of the surgery rooms. He had been assured she'd be okay. Her hand would take time and therapy to regain full functionality, and she'd have a gnarly scar, but she'd be fine. She had been shot in the stomach, but it had missed all important organs and didn't go very deep. They were removing the bullet now and treating for blood loss, but she'd be okay. She'd be okay.

Though it didn't show on his face, he was also very conflicted. He had never cared about anyone except Mokuba, and yet, here he was, pacing a hospital worrying about the girl who had been driving him up the wall for months. The girl who grabbed a knife that was coming towards him without faltering, who fought to keep him and Mokuba safe even when her own brother was already down. Every time he closed his eyes, even just to blink, he couldn't stop hearing her frightened screams, couldn't stop seeing the blood spread from the gun wound as she fought to revive her dead brother…

She had the last remaining member of her family go down to gunshots that were meant for him, her father going the same way. She'd probably hate him now, and for some reason, that made his stomach twist uncomfortably. Maybe he really did think of her as a friend.

Kaiba felt something that could only be described as sadness for Kaede. He cursed himself that it wasn't him who had stopped the knife, or the bullet, or the three men who had tried to come kill him in his own office. He scowled, and started pacing again. He would not let anything like this ever happen again.

After a few minutes, Mokuba got up and walked up to him cautiously, the same worries Kaiba felt reflected in his amethyst eyes.

"Seto... What are we going to do? Kaede..." he trailed off, biting his lip as he held in another round of tears. Kaiba's stony eyes did not change, "I'll take care of her. Nothing like this will happen again," he snapped, unblinkingly. Mokuba gave his brother a wide, watery smile.

;

Kaede woke up the next morning. Her surgery was not lengthy or particularly risky, but the doctors thought it prudent to keep her asleep for the night. She woke early the next morning, and was not alone.

Half in a chair, half curled up on her bed by her legs, was Mokuba, mouth lolled open, drooling unattractively as he clung to her knee. She spared him a half grimace, half smile, then looked up to meet a familiar pair of piercing blue eyes attached to a person leaning on the wall across the room.

Kaiba and Kaede wordlessly looked at each other for a moment until Kaiba's eyes softened and he pushed off the wall, strode over, and gently shook Mokuba awake.

The boy slowly rose, looking groggy and confused until he saw Kaede's eyes were open. The effect was instantaneous, and he was alert in a second, his whole face lighting up.

"Kaede, you're awake! Thank goodness, we've been so worried! I waited all night for you to get up, and the nurses kept trying to get us to leave, but Seto wouldn't let them, and gosh, I'm so glad you're okay!" he let out all at once, stumbling over his words. Kaede blinked owlishly at him, groggy from the medications in her system.

She didn't answer him, instead, looking carefully around the room and assessing her situation. She couldn't feel either of her injuries, and wasn't in pain, but if the slowness at which her eyelids opened and shut was any indication, that's because they had her on morphine or something similar. She was hooked up to an IV and a selection of beeping machines. She had been changed into a hospital gown, and her right hand was heavily bandaged. She was a little light headed and her whole body felt too heavy.

Mokuba was looking at her eagerly, his hair unkempt and messy, still in yesterday's clothes. Kaiba looked… immaculate, like usual, but very tired. They both looked unharmed.

Kaede hesitated, then painstakingly sat herself up, Mokuba hovering beside her as though afraid she'd need help. She succeeded on her own, thankfully, and slowly looked between the Kaiba brothers.

"H… How is Hiroki? Where is he?" she asked cautiously, words a little slurred.

Mokuba gave Seto an uncomfortable look as he moved to sit on Kaede's other side, holding her gaze.

"Hiroki is dead," he said slowly and with finality. Her eyes widened and tears formed, and Kaiba felt his supposed stone cold heart drop in his stomach, grimacing and crossing his arms tightly across his chest.

"K-Kaede, I'm so sorry!" Mokuba whimpered, eyes going moist as well, as he reached for her, "I know it doesn't make up for it, but you can count on us! We're here for you," he said helplessly. The Kaiba brothers stayed with her as she started to sob.

;

Robotic. Disillusioned. Unfeeling. Empty. The next week was just a haze for Kaede. She was distinctly uninvolved with life. Kaiba took care of everything.

She had to stay in the hospital another night on sedatives after the impact of Hiroki's death really hit her and she cried so violently she nearly tore the stitches on her stomach. The day after that, however, she was discharged. She didn't get to go to her house, the one that she and Hiroki had heavily neglected after the death of their father. She was taken straight to the Kaiba mansion, straight to the bedroom she had been given, and there she stayed.

Mokuba was constantly there, eyes brimming with worry as he stayed beside her, trying to make conversation. Kaede didn't care. She didn't care. She lost her father, and all she had was Hiroki, and now she had lost Hiroki, and now she had no one. Kaiba hired some of Kaiba Corp security to take over the mansion security detail. Some of them tried to give Kaede their regards, but she stayed in her room, not wanting to talk to anyone. She didn't want to leave, shower, or eat. She lay in bed, occasionally taking the medication she was prescribed for her pain, though that was only because of Mokuba's coaxing. The type of pain she was experiencing couldn't be medicated.

Mai and Tea began staying with her in shifts, though unbeknownst to her, it was at Kaiba's request. They, along with Mokuba, and occasionally other friends, would keep her company, get her to eat and change and leave her room.

There was a funeral, and it was beautiful. Kaiba had arranged it all himself without a word. All her friends were there, all of the security team who had known Hiroki, all of his old friends from school. It passed as though part of a dream for her. She stood there to receive people. All friends, for she had no family left. Mai and Joey stayed by her side for the whole thing and told her when to move, who to talk to, and directed her through it. That was the only thing she really remembered about it.

After the funeral, Mai and Joey did take her back to her family's house, as it seemed being in Kaiba's mansion wasn't doing anything for her healing process. When they arrived, she went straight to Hiroki's old bedroom, laid down in the dusty bedsheets, and cried for the first time since she was in the hospital.

;

"We traced the three men back to a local gang. Their whole establishment was busted. You won't be getting any trouble from them for a long time."

"Finally. What were they after?" Kaiba's cool voice spoke into the phone.

"Ah, that we don't know. I'm afraid they were hired by an outside source. We're still working on tracking that lead. Nevertheless, you should be safe now. This is going to be the top 6 o'clock news story for a while. They ran a lot of the crime in the city, and once we tracked one person down, the rest fell like dominoes."

"Very well. Keep me updated."

"Will do, Mr. Kaiba. Have a good day."

Kaiba hung up and leaned back in his chair, crossing his fingers thoughtfully. They still had no idea who had organized the attacks on him and Mokuba, though their means to do so were effectively ruined.

He sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. The news brought him little relief. Kaede was still a shell of her normal self and wasn't talking to him. Mokuba was beside himself with the grief of Hiroki's death and Kaede's reaction to it. They may be safer now, but it came at the cost of two people's lives.

Kaede had been gone for a week now. Mokuba had gone to visit her many times, and finally convinced her to come back to the mansion. She'd arrive later that night, and Kaiba would have to face her for the first time since the funeral. He hadn't gone to see her, and was very careful to not receive details about her state from Mokuba. He didn't want to know.

Whatever he may have expected from her though, it wasn't what he got.

Kaede arrived in time to have dinner with them. Mokuba had catered a meal entirely to her tastes: homemade pizza with extra cheese, veggies and dip on the side, chocolate milk to drink. A completely untraditional dinner by Kaiba household standards, but Kaiba participated in it without a word. And so did Kaede.

She arrived, nodded curtly to them both, and went to unpack her things in her usual room. She then took her usual seat at the table and slowly ate, eyes trapped in a dead stare at nothingness.

Mokuba occasionally tried to ask her cautious questions to which she'd reply with one word answers, or not answer at all. It was a little creepy, to be honest. They finished dinner awkwardly, Kaiba preparing to flee to his office and escape the situation.

Kaede didn't react to his departure. She stayed seated after finishing her meal, looking into space until a very unsure Mokuba tugged her up by the arm, trying to half-heartedly suggest a few games they could play. It was disturbing. Kaiba had spent so long wishing for Kaede's silence, and now she was… too silent. It was making his stomach twist in all sorts of unpleasant ways.

;

Kaede was awake before he was the next morning, standing in the kitchen, holding an empty mug as though she was going through her usual morning motions and then froze halfway. He cleared his throat as he entered, but she didn't react. Frowning to himself, he walked over and gently coaxed the mug from her hands, setting it under the coffee machine. Kaede didn't look at him, wordlessly dropping her eyes to the floor instead.

Disturbed, Kaiba slid her coffee over to her before getting down his trademark favorite mug, preparing to make himself one.

She didn't make a single comment about his mug; she didn't even spare it a mirthful glance. His lips thinned and he hurriedly left her to go wake up Mokuba so he wouldn't have to deal with their new zombie… housemate by himself. He wasn't sure what to think of her as at the moment. Was she their employee? Their friend? She wasn't in shape to do much fighting or defending, so she wasn't a great bodyguard contender, but he was more comfortable having her where he could keep an eye on her.

Shaking his head, he got Mokuba, bidding him to get ready to go to Kaiba Corp. And so, half an hour later, Kaiba drove them all to the office, Kaede having left her untouched coffee on the counter as they left.

When they arrived, she mumbled something about finding some work, and left the brothers in Kaiba's expansive office. Kaiba waited until the door closed behind her, and hurriedly faced his younger brother.

"Mokuba…"

"Seto…"

They shared a meaningful look, Kaiba's normally strict expression now creased in concern and confusion. "Mokuba, what's wrong with her? This is ridiculous," he whispered sharply. Mokuba threw his hands up, giving his brother a hopeless look.

"I have no idea, Seto, she's completely shut down! I can't get through to her at all, but we need to calm her down," he said with distress.

"What do we do then?" he muttered, annoyed at the situation.

Mokuba dropped his eyes, shrugging, "I have no idea. I think… she needs more time. Hiroki told me something like this happened when their mom died. I just don't know what to do…"

"Fine. But we can't just wait forever for her to work herself out. It's been nearly two weeks and she hasn't insulted me even once," he said slowly. If the situation weren't so serious, Mokuba would've laughed at him, but instead he just nodded.

Kaede came back in a minute later, bearing a laptop she had taken from… somewhere. She wordlessly sat in one of the seats in front of Kaiba's desk and started clicking away on the keyboard. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"What… are you doing?"

"Picking up work on a new design project from your team," she answered monotonously, not looking up at him. Kaiba blinked, but said nothing else, content that she said a complete sentence.

;

The rest of the day passed much the same, Kaede wordlessly working on her stolen laptop, only pausing when Mokuba coaxed her into walking downstairs to get something for lunch with him. She didn't eat anything.

That night when Kaiba went to bed, the tell-tale blue light of a computer screen was still leaking out from under her door, and then again, she was up before him in the morning still, clicking away at the breakfast table as she waited for them to wake up.

"Did you sleep last night?" He asked sharply, standing at the door to the kitchen. She blinked slowly, her red eyes and dark circles answering his question for him as she glanced at him.

"Of course I did. I sleep every night," she said shortly. She didn't look at him long, and he could tell she was lying, but her voice sounded more like herself, which he was pleased with. He simply raised an eyebrow, and said nothing more. Maybe she was ready to recover and they could put this all behind them. He nodded to himself and went to rouse Mokuba to go to Kaiba Corp again. At least she was working and not wallowing.

;

Kaiba was wrong. He thought that zombie-Kaede was worrisome, but he was now experiencing workaholic-Kaede, and it was just as bad. By his estimate, she'd been awake for three days straight, hadn't eaten anything, and hadn't spent more than 20 consecutive minutes away from her laptop. Mokuba had tried pleading with her, but she insisted there was no problem, that she was fine, and she just really loved programming more than anything in the world.

At lunch time on the third day, while Mokuba dragged Kaede away for lunch to try in vain to get her to eat, he did something he never thought he'd have to do.

Wincing with unseen pain, he dialed a number he has, but never wanted to use. He phoned Joey Wheeler.

"Hello?"

"Wheeler."

"KAIBA?! Hey-how'd ya get this number?"

"Shut it, mutt. I need your help."

"You can't insult me and then ask for my help! Wait, whaddya mean you need my help?"

"It's Kaede."

There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment.

"Is she still… you know," Joey asked, voice lowered and serious.

"Worse. She's stopped sleeping and eating all together. She's snapping at everyone and will only put up with Mokuba. She's decided to revive her software career and has been working on a project from my engineering team for three days straight. No breaks, just coding."

"So, she's… acting like you."

Kaiba paused, reflecting on this for a second with horror.

"… Yes."

"It's worse than I thought. I'll round up the whole gang, we'll come by tonight."

Kaiba was so relieved, he didn't even argue with Joey for essentially inviting himself to his house.

;

Instead of a sit-down dinner, Mokuba ordered pizza for everyone when they got home. Joey, Mai, and all their friends met at the mansion, surprising Kaede and drawing her into the living room for games, food, and time with friends. She followed them in, sat down on the couch, and took out her laptop to resume her work.

"Kaede!" Mai cried out, aghast, "Put that thing away, hon, tonight's all about relaxing!" She said, swiftly reaching to shut it and take it away. Kaede weakly protested, reaching out her arms, making Mai gasp again, grabbing her arm, staring at her hand.

"Have you not been changing your bandages?" she hissed out, inspecting the old wrappings with a shrewd eye. Kaede shifted, but said nothing, making the older woman's eyes flash. "And your stomach ones? Kaede, you were supposed to be changing them every day!" Kaede just muttered something incomprehensible back, withdrawing back into herself without the shield of her laptop. Mai sighed, releasing her friend, and standing to hide the laptop away.

Kaede said very little all night. Without work to distract her, the haunted look returned to her eyes, and she spent a lot of time practicing being deaf, blind, and mute despite everyone's best efforts to be energized around her. Kaiba stayed away from all of them, locking himself away in his office, but occasionally came down to check on things, frowning from the doorway. At the end of the night, he saw them all to the door, Kaede still in her seated position taking great interest in the carpet fibres.

Looking grim, he nodded to everyone, "I don't usually want people coming here, but I won't argue if you drop by more often to see her," he said shortly, making certain members of the group grin a bit. Mai cocked an eyebrow at him, but said nothing on the topic, striding up to exchange some private words with him instead.

"Kaiba, we don't know each other well, but we seem to have a shared interest in that poor girl in your living room," she started quietly so the others couldn't overhear as they chatted amongst themselves, waiting for her. Kaiba gave her a short nod.

"Have you tried… talking to her?"

"No, that's why I brought you all here," he muttered back, shaking his head. Mai let out a lengthy sigh.

"This must be why Joey complains about you so much. Listen, we'd be happy to come back and all, but Kaede…" she paused, looking for the right words while Kaiba raised an eyebrow, "Kaede weighs your… words very heavily. I think you'll have the best chance at talking some sense into her," she said with a wink. Kaiba just blinked at her, making her sigh again.

"Absolutely hopeless," she said dramatically, shaking her head. "Whatever, just try to work it out. And Kaiba? She's supposed to be changing her bandages every day. I doubt she has since we dropped her back off," she said with a frown. Kaiba swore under his breath, sending a frustrated look over his shoulder in Kaede's general direction.

"Well, that'll be it then!" Mai said, returning to her louder, cheerful voice. "Take care, darling, we'll be back soon to impose on you some more!"

;

Kaiba told Mokuba to go up to his room, took a deep breath, and entered the living room. Kaede still hadn't moved. He frowned, knowing what had to be done, and moved towards her, crossing his arms.

"Come on, Erizawa, follow me," he said, signalling her to get to her feet. Kaede kept her eyes down as she followed him, he led her to… her bedroom. He gestured for her to sit on her bed while he retrieved her hospital supplies from her desk. He shrugged off his overcoat, and in a shirt and slacks, sat beside her.

"Hand," he said shortly. To his amazement, she held hers out, allowing him to carefully unwrap it, letting a moment of silence pass between them. He paused to examine the long line of stitches across her palm before applying her prescribed antiseptic, and slowly re-wrapping her hand.

"You can't do this forever," he started, gently handling her bandages. They both watched him work as he spoke. "As I recall, you're the one who regularly lectures me about working too much. I know how it works. You find a project and focus so intensely on it, force yourself to think of nothing else but ideas and solutions to problems, so that there's no room left to think about anything else.

"If you work hard enough at it, work yourself to exhaustion, you can avoid dealing directly with the pain, and it's nothing more than a small annoyance in the pit of your stomach. You effectively reduce it to a workable problem, but then you don't work on it. You let it fester, and you stay exhausted, and then suddenly, you haven't spoken for two weeks, you're losing weight, and it doesn't look like you'll ever lose the dark circles under your eyes."

He pinned the end of the bandage in place, and moved closer to her. Kaede cautiously looked up to meet his eyes, and froze, his gaze filled with emotion. She felt a sharp pain of dread when she realized Kaiba, of all people, _understood_. He held eye contact with her, placing his hand so gently on her hip, it was like he was scared he'd break her. He pulled her shirt up to her ribcage and gestured for her to hold it while he started working on the bandages wound around her whole abdomen.

"There's no use shutting down, it won't make you feel better, it won't solve your problems. Doing my engineers' work is just encouraging their uselessness. You need to deal with what's happening head on, and with that big head of yours, that should be fairly easy. Grief is no reason to neglect yourself. You need to sleep, you need to eat, and for god's sake, you need to listen to doctor orders and take care of your gunshot wounds," he said with a grimace, unwrapping the last of the bandage. His hand ghosted over the scar, checking for infection, and then settled on her lower back, looking at her.

Kaede stared back, her eyes wide with… surprise? Probably because she was getting a pep talk from Seto Kaiba. Maybe he was trying to shock her into recovery. He inwardly cursed, but ploughed on. He was uncomfortable, but he found courage in her confused silver eyes.

"I'm sorry Hiroki's gone. I'm sorry your father's gone. It's my fault they died, and you should probably hate me. You probably do." He said quickly, moving his hand off her to grab a fresh roll of bandages. She stayed silent while he moved his arms around her, wrapping the wound again.

"I hate being in debt to people, Erizawa. Yet, I owe you my life twice over; Mokuba's too. Whatever you need, consider it done. You don't need to suffer like this. I have a lot of money, you could suffer in Paris or something instead."

Kaede let out a noise that sounded suspiciously like a snort, and he looked at her in surprise to find her eyes were watery and she was wearing a sad smile, watching him work on her bandages. He stayed quiet until he finished, putting the end of the bandage in place, and gently tugging her shirt back down.

The sat beside each other like that for a minute before Kaede finally broke the silence.

"I don't hate you, Seto," she whispered, voice cracking as tears started trickling down her face. Kaiba watched her quietly as she started letting out the emotions she'd been holding in.

"I just… I don't know what to do," she blubbered out, furiously rubbing at her eyes. "H-Hiroki was my big brother. My mom and my dad are both gone, a-and he was all I had left," she forced out, sobs taking over her body. "A-and, now I have nothing left!" she finished with a wail.

Kaiba sat still and didn't even flinch when she released a fresh set of hysterical tears, leaning over into him as she cried. He let her cry into his shirt, cautiously putting an arm around her. He closed his eyes and sat with her patiently, knowing he owed her at least some company and comfort, a sturdy hand on her shoulder.

"You still have us," he whispered.


	12. Hurts

**From Out of Nowhere**

 **Chapter 12: Hurts**

As it would turn out, staying awake for three days will make a person very sleepy, and very emotional. After their touching moment, Kaede ended up crying so hard she had a coughing and gagging fit, remained in hysterics, and then cried herself to sleep until she slumped on her bed, already far gone.

Kaiba got to witness her whole breakdown in all its glory. It took an hour. He was uncomfortable, tired, and a little irritated, but he stayed. He released a long sigh as he stood up and stretched, having been trapped in the same sitting position he started in. He shook his head lightly as he watched Kaede breathe deeply, curled into herself. She was often so loud, so vibrant, so strong, and the contrast with how small and vulnerable-looking she was right now was staggering.

He spared her sleeping form the ghost of a smile before quietly sneaking out of the room. He was ready to make his escape to his own room, but a mighty figure blocked his path.

Mokuba puffed out his chest, hands on his hips, wearing a very large, mischievous grin. The effect was somewhat lessened by his ferocious pair of bunny slippers; a gift from Kaede to match her own.

Kaiba gave his younger brother a very unimpressed look, "Go to bed, Mokuba. And please don't tell me Erizawa gave you those. She has the same pair."

For some reason, that just made Mokuba beam wider, "Yeah, she does. You sure do know her really well, bro," he said with a smirk. Kaiba just gave him a slightly raised eyebrow in response.

"I wouldn't say that. I would say I've been victimized by those bobbing heads while she's argued with me many times though."

This didn't deter Mokuba who said back, "That sounded like a joke, Seto, your dry humour has really been coming out the past few months," he said suggestively.

Seto just replied with an expressionless stare.

"It sounded like you made some serious headway with her!" Mokuba said, switching gears, "No one else managed to make her crack, but ten minutes with you and she's turned back into a human. That's pretty wild, right, bro? And it sure was nice of you to sit there with her for an hour while she cried," he said, waggling his eyebrows.

Kaiba scoffed, rolling his eyes and pushing past Mokuba, tired of this strange conversation, "I am often the voice of reason, Mokuba. And I had to sit there, the cursed woman trapped me and was sobbing into my lap. Go to bed," he finished, shaking his head. Kaede was having a mental breakdown, and now his brother was acting weird. As usual, he was the only normal one left.

Mokuba just watched his brother go with a small grin. For someone so smart, he could be pretty dense.

;

"K-Kaede, calm down, it's okay!" Mokuba stammered trying to soothe the hysterical girl.

"H-Hiroki…" she hiccupped, "Hiroki used to eat cereal!" she wailed. The poor boy shook his head in disbelief. Kaede was crying over her bowl of cornflakes because, as she had stated, her deceased brother used to also consume grain-based breakfast foods.

Mokuba rubbed his hands over his eyes. He had finally gotten Kaede to get up and come downstairs for breakfast, and this was the third thing she had found to cry over already. Still, it was… probably progress. Mokuba was exasperated and didn't think he could handle things on his own anymore, so he said, "Kaede, deep breaths! I'll call Seto!" he said frantically, running to get a phone.

That gave Kaede pause as ugly tears continued to roll down her face. The night before was blurred with misery, and she had woken up in the late morning on top of her blankets confused. However, she did remember Kaiba being there, talking to her…

And then crying all over the most powerful man in Domino, who was also her boss. Or was that part of her dreams? It all seemed to blend together weirdly.

She sniffled, struggling to regain control. She knew she was being silly, but… Hiroki was gone. Her brother, her last family member… She had tried to postpone the crushing grief she was feeling now for too long, and now it was back with a vengeance.

She bravely stiffened her expression and had another spoonful of cereal, then glanced back at Hiroki's old seat at the breakfast tabled and collapsed into another fit of sobbing.

Mokuba groaned, praying for his brother to pick up the phone.

"Mokuba?"

"Seto! Oh, thank goodness. Kaede's completely lost her marbles. We need to get her out of here, she can't stop crying!"

"Well, at least she's back to being noisy again."

"No, Seto, everything is reminding her of Hiroki!"

"She'll get over it."

"Seto! You said it yourself, it's our turn to take care of her now! We need to figure out how to help her!"

Kaiba just sighed audibly into the phone.

"She needs to get out of here, Seto, a break from the surroundings. Maybe you should we should go on a vacation! It's been a while since you've had a break anyways."

That made him pause. He had been thinking of taking Mokuba on a vacation after the duel disk was sorted out.

"You might be on to something, Mokuba. Annoying employees are always begging for vacation time. I'll consider taking some time off."

"Yes, you're the best, Seto! We should invite the gang over tonight too for a game night to cheer her up in the mean time!"

"… If you must."

;

The doorbell rang, and Mokuba opened it as quick as he could, looking pale.

"Thank goodness you're here," he said grimly, inviting in Mai, Joey, Yugi, Tea, and Tristan. "I don't know how much longer I can handle her all by myself!" Did she go through this stage when her Mom died, Mai?!"

Mai just stopped as a distraught Kaede wailed into her arms on the dining room table while Kaiba sat beside her, arms cross, eyebrow twitching. She sent him an amused look which he did not respond to.

"Kaede! Don't cry, it's okay!" Tea exclaimed, rushing towards her friend, followed by Yugi and Mokuba.

"Yeah, Kaede, we're all here with ya now!" Joey said, throwing himself into a chair beside Tristan.

"Come on, Kae, cheer up, Joey's right! You can count on your friends!" Tristan chimed in.

"Look, Kaede, everyone's here! I thought we could have a game night! How about we all play Monopoly?" Mokuba asked hopefully. Kaede raised her head from the table revealing puffy eyes and a morose face, but nodded, "that'd be nice," she hiccupped, glancing at all the people around her giving her encouraging smiles.

Kaiba stood up with a sigh, going to leave, but Joey cut him off, "Ehhh, Kaiba, come on, you too! There's room for eight!"

"I have better things to do than play games with you geeks," he responded coldly. Joey growled at him, but a small voice stopped him from stomping up to his office.

"Come on, bossman, you're all about money, maybe this is a game you can actually win," Kaede croaked out. Kaiba spun and saw her giving him an unsure, watery smirk.

He didn't let himself smile, but his eyes shined, "That sounds like a challenge, Erizawa." Joey and Mokuba snickered and Kaede just gave him an innocent smile. He said nothing else, but sat back down at the table while Mokuba got the game set up.

"Alright, let's play!" Yugi exclaimed.

;

"HAH! You just landed on Boardwalk, Kaiba, and by my calculations, you are BANKRUPT!" Joey yelled out triumphantly, jumping up in his seat. Kaiba blanched at the board, staring at the traitorous dice roll that landed him on Joey's hotel supplied property. They had been the last two in the game and… he just lost to Wheeler.

"Uh-oh, looks like Joey might make a better business man than you, Kaiba, maybe he should be the head of Kaiba Corp!" Tea teased, making them all laugh.

"Huh. This must be what it feels like to be the worst person in the world," Kaiba muttered, not looking at any of them.

;

The rest of the night passed by in good cheer on everyone's part except Kaiba, and by the end of the night, Kaede's tears had dried and she was passing out grins like her usual self.

"Thanks for coming again, guys. I really appreciate it, I had fun," she said with a smile, seeing them all to the door.

"For sure, Kaede, we should do it again sometime!" Yugi said brightly.

Kaede just sent him back a sly grin, "I don't know, maybe at your place, Yugi. I don't think Kaiba will let anyone back in here again after what happened tonight. He'll be up all night re-evaluating his life over this," she said with a smirk. Kaiba had neglected to leave the dining room table to see them all off for the night to no one's surprise.

The all laughed and said their goodnights, Mokuba closing the door behind them with a satisfied smile and heading back to check on Kaiba with Kaede.

He was sitting at the table with his head in his hands looking grim.

"Uhh… you okay, bro?" Mokuba asked, sitting next to him, Kaede on Kaiba's other side.

"…"

"Come on, it's okay, Kaiba, it's just a game."

"…"

"You just had unlucky rolls, Seto, this doesn't mean anything!"

"…"

"Oh, get it together, loser, you're falling apart like your puppy died or something, you still beat the rest of us," Kaede snapped at him.

Kaiba paused for another whole minute before raising his head slowly, lips thin, "We never speak of this again. I was so focused on targeting Yugi, Wheeler was able to build up a small empire under my nose. I cannot make these short sights as CEO of Kaiba Corp," he said seriously.

Mokuba sighed, shaking his head, and Kaede giggled at him, standing up and holding out a hand to him.

"You're ridiculous. Let's go to bed, Seto."

Kaiba did a double take and jumped up and backwards away from her, "Let's-?!"

Kaede just cracked an eyebrow at him, confused, and instead gestured for Mokuba to get up. "Thanks for tonight, both of you. I know you orchestrated this, Mokuba, and Kaiba, you tolerated it. I'm grateful," Kaede said fondly, leading the way to the stairs.

Kaiba made himself calm down, he misheard and misconstrued things, that's all, he was completely thrown by the whole Monopoly fiasco…

Clearing his throat discreetly, he followed behind them, stopping briefly at Kaede's door before she could close the door on them. "Eriz- Kaede, wait… your bandages," he said, gesturing at her midsection. He missed Mokuba waggling eyebrows on his way to his own room, while Kaede hesitated.

"I-It's okay, Kaiba, really, you've done enough, I can take care of it-"

"With one hand?" He scoffed, rolling his eyes at her, "Let's just get it over with and go to bed," he grumbled, striding past her.

;

The next day wasn't much better. Kaede was less hysterical, but still… watery. Mokuba, being the trooper he is, bared with it and spent the day keeping her busy and distracted.

Everything was going well, and when Kaiba came home, he was able to pull Mokuba aside and tell him that they'd be good to take a short vacation.

"That's awesome, Seto! We gotta tell Kaede, she'll be so psyched!" Mokuba said with enthusiastic wide eyes. Kaiba nodded curtly, and they went to find her.

She was curled up on the living room couch looking morose and thoughtful. Kaiba gestured for Mokuba to go in, but Mokuba took the opportunity to take a big step back and stay at the doorway, waving for him to go first. Kaiba threw him a dirty look before slowly approaching Kaede, who didn't even seem to notice his presence.

Kaiba came to a stop in front of Kaede, crossing his arms and looking down at her. When she didn't acknowledge him, he cleared his throat, shocking her out of her stupor, and making her look up at him cluelessly.

Kaiba, never one to beat about the bush, started bluntly, "You need a vacation, Erizawa."

Kaede considered this for a moment, her eyes widening with shock, "W-what do you mean?" she stammered.

"Exactly that," he said, satisfied with her surprise, "You're going on a vacation. Leaving Domino, leaving the mansion. Going on a trip," he reiterated. He looked down at her for a second waiting for a reaction, when the unbelievable happened.

Her eyes swelled with tears and she bit her lip, making Kaiba recoil in shock. Why in the world-

"Y-you d-don't want me h-here anymore?" she blubbered out, looking distressed. Kaiba mouth opened and closed like a gaping fish, shooting panicked looks between her and an equally perplexed Mokuba still standing hidden in the doorway. "I-is it because I d-don't work hard e-enough? I can d-do more work. I'll wo-work every day!" she wailed. Kaiba took a mighty step backwards away from the ridiculous female in front of him.

"I- What in the world, Erizawa?" He let out angrily, which just made her drop her head in her arms and start crying harder. He quickly scrambled to recover.

"I- wait, no Erizawa - Kaede, this is a paid vacation-" he let out helplessly, completely lost.

"A SEVERANCE?"

He sent Mokuba a bewildered and pleading look, but his traitorous younger brother just put his hands up in surrender and slowly backed away from the room, giving Kaiba a helpless look that clearly said, 'you're on your own, bro.'

Kaiba scowled, but quickly glanced back down at his immediate problem, not knowing what to do. He couldn't just leave her like this, but how in the world was he supposed to handle this hysterical, irrational woman?

"Erizawa, listen to me-"

She didn't listen, she was too far gone, bawling into her hands. Kaiba's lip curled in distaste, he eyes resigned as he carefully approached the crying girl and… sat next to her.

Kaede didn't seem to notice as Kaiba steeled himself, slid a little closer to her, and… hesitantly patted her awkwardly on the shoulder.

"Uh, there, ther-"

Kaede let out a fresh wail, throwing herself onto him at his reluctant gesture, freezing Kaiba with shock as she unleashed the fury of many tears onto his clean, expensive clothes. He extended his arms into the air, waiting for her to get off him, but alas, it wasn't happening.

He swung his head around desperately, looking for a way out-

All he saw was Mokuba's arm sticking out from the doorway in a prominent thumbs up position. Kaiba rolled his eyes and let out a small curse as he observed his hysterical companion. He sighed heavily, and cautiously lowered his arms around her.

"Y-You can't make me leave, S-Seto! I've lost everyone, n-not you and M-Mokuba too! P-Please!"

Kaiba looked at her incredulously, completely flabbergasted. She had completely lost her wits somewhere in her ridiculous leaps of logic.

"E-Erizawa, you're being ridiculous," he snapped loudly, tightening his grasp. He firmly pulled her up into a sitting position, and made her face him to look into his frustrated gaze.

"You're not getting fired, Erizawa. We're going on a vacation, we'll be leaving in two da- No, don't start snivelling again, you're driving me up the wall! WE will leave. You, Mokuba, and… me. We're taking a vacation. Don't make me regret it," he said irritably.

Kaede paused, tears still running down her cheeks, but falling quiet as she looked at him curiously.

"You're… taking me on a vacation?"

"It you want to word it that way, yes," he sighed, releasing her and backing away so that they had some safe inches between them.

He didn't understand why she gave him a completely incredulous look, like he had just grown a new head. If anyone should be bamboozled, it should be him, after how she acted.

"You… are taking time off work… to go on vacation… with Mokuba… and me…" she said slowly, not taking her eyes off him.

"Yes, Erizawa! What's so hard to understand?" he snapped again, getting to his feet with a growl.

"You're completely insufferable like this, so we're taking a vacation to cheer you up. I can't stand anymore whining, so Mokuba suggested a trip. We can go anywhere you'd like, but let me know soon so I can book everything. We'll leave in two days," he said again, pinching the bridge of his nose. He sent her another annoyed look before shaking his head and striding out of the room.

Kaede let her jaw drop, staring at her hands. Her skin tingled where his arms were around her just a moment before, and her mind was whirring.

"What in the world… happened to him…" she softly asked herself, completely shocked by Kaiba's actions and sudden generosity. She didn't see Mokuba in the doorway doubling over with silent giggles.


End file.
